Selecting a fixed frame period duration

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses, methods, and systems are disclosed for selecting a fixed frame period operation for uplink transmission. One apparatus includes a processor and a receiver that receives a first configuration from a RAN node for a first FFP duration and receives a second configuration from the RAN node for a second FFP duration, where the first FFP duration is different than the second FFP duration. The processor selects a FFP duration for an UL transmission to be transmitted based on an entity acquiring a channel occupancy and controls a transmitter to transmit the UL transmission in the channel occupancy with the selected FFP duration, where the selected FFP duration is either the first FFP duration or the second FFP duration.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Pat. Application Serial No.63/058,381 entitled “APPARATUSES, METHODS, AND SYSTEMS FOR ULTRANSMISSION BURST MANAGEMENT OF UE INITIATED CHANNEL OCCUPANCY” andfiled on Jul. 29, 2020 for Hossein Bagheri, Alexander Johann MariaGolitschek Edler von Elbwart, Vijay Nangia, and Ankit Bhamri, whichapplication is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Thisapplication also claims priority to U.S. Pat. Application Serial No.63/058,400 entitled “URLLC COMMUNICATION OPERATION IN UNLICENSEDENVIRONMENT VIA UE INITIATED CHANNEL OCCUPANCY” and filed on Jul. 29,2020 for Hossein Bagheri, Ankit Bhamri, Hyejung Jung, Alexander JohannMaria Golitschek Edler von Elbwart, and Vijay Nangia, which applicationis also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to wirelesscommunications and more particularly relates to selecting a fixed frameperiod operation for uplink transmission.

BACKGROUND

In certain wireless communications networks, transmissions may overlapwith one another. In such networks, interference may occur due to theoverlapping transmissions.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Disclosed are procedures for selecting a fixed frame period (“FFP”)operation for uplink (“UL”) transmission. Said procedures may beimplemented by apparatus, systems, methods, or computer programproducts.

One method of a User Equipment (“UE”) for selecting a fixed frame periodoperation for uplink transmission includes receiving a firstconfiguration from a radio access network (“RAN”) node for a first fixedframe period (“FFP”) duration and receiving a second configuration fromthe RAN node for a second FFP duration, where the first FFP duration isdifferent than the second FFP duration. The method includes selecting aFFP duration for an uplink (“UL”) transmission to be transmitted basedon an entity acquiring a channel occupancy and transmitting the ULtransmission in the channel occupancy with the selected FFP duration,where the selected FFP duration is one of: the first FFP duration andthe second FFP duration.

One method of a RAN node for selecting a fixed frame period operationfor uplink transmission includes transmitting a first configuration to aUE device for a first FFP duration and transmitting a secondconfiguration to the UE device for a second FFP duration, where thefirst FFP duration is different than the second FFP duration. The methodincludes selecting a FFP duration based on entity acquiring the channeloccupancy and receiving an UL transmission in a channel occupancy withthe selected FFP duration, where the selected FFP duration is one of:the first FFP duration and the second FFP duration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more particular description of the embodiments briefly described abovewill be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only some embodiments and are not therefore to be considered tobe limiting of scope, the embodiments will be described and explainedwith additional specificity and detail through the use of theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of awireless communication system for selecting a fixed frame periodoperation for uplink transmission;

FIG. 1B depicts a diagram illustrating one embodiment a fixed frameperiod structure;

FIG. 2 depicts a diagram illustrating one embodiment of allowing UEsonly with high priority (“HP”) data/control to initiate a ChannelOccupancy Time (“COT”);

FIG. 3 depicts a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a networkdeployment where two or more UEs are allowed to initiate COT;

FIG. 4 depicts a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a ULtransmission burst;

FIG. 5 depicts a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a UEtransmitting low priority (“LP”) data prior to transmitting HP data;

FIG. 6 depicts a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a shifted highpriority transmission;

FIG. 7 depicts a diagram illustrating one embodiment of an extended highpriority transmission;

FIG. 8 depicts a diagram illustrating one embodiment of overlappingconfigured grant resources;

FIG. 9 depicts a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a fixed frameperiod;

FIG. 10 depicts a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a UEtransmitting multiple UL bursts;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment ofListen-Before-Talk (“LBT”) not being required for a gap between ULtransmission bursts;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a userequipment apparatus that may be used for selecting a fixed frame periodoperation for uplink transmission;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a networkapparatus that may be used for selecting a fixed frame period operationfor uplink transmission;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment of a methodfor selecting a fixed frame period operation for uplink transmission;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment of a methodfor uplink transmission using selective fixed frame period operation;and

FIG. 16 is a flowchart diagram illustrating another embodiment of amethod for uplink transmission using selective fixed frame periodoperation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of theembodiments may be embodied as a system, apparatus, method, or programproduct. Accordingly, embodiments may take the form of an entirelyhardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodimentcombining software and hardware aspects.

For example, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented as a hardwarecircuit comprising custom very-large-scale integration (“VLSI”) circuitsor gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips,transistors, or other discrete components. The disclosed embodiments mayalso be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as fieldprogrammable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logicdevices, or the like. As another example, the disclosed embodiments mayinclude one or more physical or logical blocks of executable code whichmay, for instance, be organized as an object, procedure, or function.

Furthermore, embodiments may take the form of a program product embodiedin one or more computer readable storage devices storing machinereadable code, computer readable code, and/or program code, referredhereafter as code. The storage devices may be tangible, non-transitory,and/or non-transmission. The storage devices may not embody signals. Ina certain embodiment, the storage devices only employ signals foraccessing code.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium may be utilized.The computer readable medium may be a computer readable storage medium.The computer readable storage medium may be a storage device storing thecode. The storage device may be, for example, but not limited to, anelectronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, holographic,micromechanical, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing.

More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the storage devicewould include the following: an electrical connection having one or morewires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory(“RAM”), a read-only memory (“ROM”), an erasable programmable read-onlymemory (“EPROM” or Flash memory), a portable compact disc read-onlymemory (“CD-ROM”), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device,or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of thisdocument, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible mediumthat can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Code for carrying out operations for embodiments may be any number oflines and may be written in any combination of one or more programminglanguages including an object-oriented programming language such asPython, Ruby, Java, Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and conventionalprocedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language,or the like, and/or machine languages such as assembly languages. Thecode may execute entirely on the user’s computer, partly on the user’scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user’scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user’s computer through any type of network, includinga local area network (“LAN”) or a wide area network (“WAN”), or theconnection may be made to an external computer (for example, through theInternet using an Internet Service Provider).

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics ofthe embodiments may be combined in any suitable manner. In the followingdescription, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples ofprogramming, software modules, user selections, network transactions,database queries, database structures, hardware modules, hardwarecircuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however,that embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specificdetails, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. Inother instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are notshown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of anembodiment.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases“in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughoutthis specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the sameembodiment, but mean “one or more but not all embodiments” unlessexpressly specified otherwise. The terms “including,” “comprising,”“having,” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to,”unless expressly specified otherwise. An enumerated listing of itemsdoes not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive,unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms “a,” “an,” and “the”also refer to “one or more” unless expressly specified otherwise.

As used herein, a list with a conjunction of “and/or” includes anysingle item in the list or a combination of items in the list. Forexample, a list of A, B and/or C includes only A, only B, only C, acombination of A and B, a combination of B and C, a combination of A andC or a combination of A, B and C. As used herein, a list using theterminology “one or more of” includes any single item in the list or acombination of items in the list. For example, one or more of A, B and Cincludes only A, only B, only C, a combination of A and B, a combinationof B and C, a combination of A and C or a combination of A, B and C. Asused herein, a list using the terminology “one of” includes one and onlyone of any single item in the list. For example, “one of A, B and C”includes only A, only B or only C and excludes combinations of A, B andC. As used herein, “a member selected from the group consisting of A, B,and C,” includes one and only one of A, B, or C, and excludescombinations of A, B, and C.” As used herein, “a member selected fromthe group consisting of A, B, and C and combinations thereof” includesonly A, only B, only C, a combination of A and B, a combination of B andC, a combination of A and C or a combination of A, B and C.

Aspects of the embodiments are described below with reference toschematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams of methods,apparatuses, systems, and program products according to embodiments. Itwill be understood that each block of the schematic flowchart diagramsand/or schematic block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theschematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams, can beimplemented by code. This code may be provided to a processor of ageneral-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart diagramsand/or block diagrams.

The code may also be stored in a storage device that can direct acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devicesto function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored inthe storage device produce an article of manufacture includinginstructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchartdiagrams and/or block diagrams.

The code may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operationalsteps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus orother devices to produce a computer implemented process such that thecode which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatusprovide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in theflowchart diagrams and/or block diagrams.

The flowchart diagrams and/or block diagrams in the Figures illustratethe architecture, functionality, and operation of possibleimplementations of apparatuses, systems, methods, and program productsaccording to various embodiments. In this regard, each block in theflowchart diagrams and/or block diagrams may represent a module,segment, or portion of code, which includes one or more executableinstructions of the code for implementing the specified logicalfunction(s).

It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, thefunctions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in theFigures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, beexecuted substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionalityinvolved. Other steps and methods may be conceived that are equivalentin function, logic, or effect to one or more blocks, or portionsthereof, of the illustrated Figures.

Although various arrow types and line types may be employed in theflowchart and/or block diagrams, they are understood not to limit thescope of the corresponding embodiments. Indeed, some arrows or otherconnectors may be used to indicate only the logical flow of the depictedembodiment. For instance, an arrow may indicate a waiting or monitoringperiod of unspecified duration between enumerated steps of the depictedembodiment. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagramsand/or flowchart diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart diagrams, can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions oracts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and code.

The description of elements in each figure may refer to elements ofproceeding figures. Like numbers refer to like elements in all figures,including alternate embodiments of like elements.

Generally, the present disclosure describes systems, methods, andapparatuses for selecting a fixed frame period operation for uplinktransmission. In certain embodiments, the methods may be performed usingcomputer code embedded on a computer-readable medium. In certainembodiments, an apparatus or system may include a computer-readablemedium containing computer-readable code which, when executed by aprocessor, causes the apparatus or system to perform at least a portionof the below described solutions.

For operation in unlicensed spectrum, when semi-static channel access isused (i.e., operation according to Frame-Based Equipment (“FBE”)),downlink (“DL”) and uplink (“UL”) transmissions are allowed within aframe period (“FP”) that a gNB (i.e., a 5th Generation (“5G”) basestation) or a UE has acquired, e.g., via channel sensing techniques.

One benefit of UE-initiated Channel Occupancy Time (“COT”) is thereduced latency of the configured grant (“CG”) Physical Uplink SharedChannel (“PUSCH”) transmission. Because the gNB may not be aware ifthere is any data to be transmitted by the UE, and the gNB may not haveany DL data, control, or reference signal to transmit (or UL data,control, or reference signal to schedule). Hence, the gNB may not sensethe channel to acquire a COT. By allowing some of the UEs in a cell - incertain conditions - to initiate a COT (instead of allowing all/many UEsto initiate a COT) at the beginning of a frame period may have certainadvantages, such as allowing UEs to have latency sensitive data totransmit their UL data/control first by avoiding collision with otherUEs which might have data/control that can tolerate some latency.

When COT sharing with the gNB is desired for the UE-initiated COT, afirst UL burst sent by the UE initiating the COT should not take most ofthe acquired FFP; otherwise, there will not be many time resources leftfor COT sharing.

FIG. 1A depicts a wireless communication system 100 for selecting afixed frame period operation for uplink transmission, according toembodiments of the disclosure. In one embodiment, the wirelesscommunication system 100 includes at least one remote unit 105, a radioaccess network (“RAN”) 120, and a mobile core network 140. The RAN 120and the mobile core network 140 form a mobile communication network. TheRAN 120 may be composed of a base unit 121 with which the remote unit105 communicates using wireless communication links 123. Even though aspecific number of remote units 105, base units 121, wirelesscommunication links 123, RANs 120, and mobile core networks 140 aredepicted in FIG. 1A, one of skill in the art will recognize that anynumber of remote units 105, base units 121, wireless communication links123, RANs 120, and mobile core networks 140 may be included in thewireless communication system 100.

In one implementation, the RAN 120 is compliant with the 5G systemspecified in the Third Generation Partnership Project (“3GPP”)specifications. For example, the RAN 120 may be a Next Generation RadioAccess Network (“NG-RAN”), implementing New Radio (“NR”) Radio AccessTechnology (“RAT”) and/or Long-Term Evolution (“LTE”) RAT. In anotherexample, the RAN 120 may include non-3GPP RAT (e.g., Wi-Fi® or Instituteof Electrical and Electronics Engineers (“IEEE”) 802.11-family compliantWLAN). In another implementation, the RAN 120 is compliant with the LTEsystem specified in the 3GPP specifications. More generally, however,the wireless communication system 100 may implement some other open orproprietary communication network, for example WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (“WiMAX”) or IEEE 802.16-familystandards, among other networks. The present disclosure is not intendedto be limited to the implementation of any particular wirelesscommunication system architecture or protocol.

In one embodiment, the remote units 105 may include computing devices,such as desktop computers, laptop computers, personal digital assistants(“PDAs”), tablet computers, smart phones, smart televisions (e.g.,televisions connected to the Internet), smart appliances (e.g.,appliances connected to the Internet), set-top boxes, game consoles,security systems (including security cameras), vehicle on-boardcomputers, network devices (e.g., routers, switches, modems), or thelike. In some embodiments, the remote units 105 include wearabledevices, such as smart watches, fitness bands, optical head-mounteddisplays, or the like. Moreover, the remote units 105 may be referred toas the UEs, subscriber units, mobiles, mobile stations, users,terminals, mobile terminals, fixed terminals, subscriber stations, userterminals, wireless transmit/receive unit (“WTRU”), a device, or byother terminology used in the art. In various embodiments, the remoteunit 105 includes a subscriber identity and/or identification module(“SIM”) and the mobile equipment (“ME”) providing mobile terminationfunctions (e.g., radio transmission, handover, speech encoding anddecoding, error detection and correction, signaling and access to theSIM). In certain embodiments, the remote unit 105 may include a terminalequipment (“TE”) and/or be embedded in an appliance or device (e.g., acomputing device, as described above).

The remote units 105 may communicate directly with one or more of thebase units 121 in the RAN 120 via uplink (“UL”) and downlink (“DL”)communication signals. Furthermore, the UL and DL communication signalsmay be carried over the wireless communication links 123. Here, the RAN120 is an intermediate network that provides the remote units 105 withaccess to the mobile core network 140. As described in greater detailbelow, the base unit(s) 121 may provide a cell operating using a firstcarrier frequency and/or a cell operating using a second frequency.Cells using the first carrier frequency may form a first frequencylayer, while cells using the second carrier frequency may form a secondfrequency layer.

In some embodiments, the remote units 105 communicate with anapplication server 151 via a network connection with the mobile corenetwork 140. For example, an application 107 (e.g., web browser, mediaclient, telephone and/or Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (“VoIP”)application) in a remote unit 105 may trigger the remote unit 105 toestablish a protocol data unit (“PDU”) session (or other dataconnection) with the mobile core network 140 via the RAN 120. The mobilecore network 140 then relays traffic between the remote unit 105 and theapplication server 151 in the packet data network 150 using the PDUsession. The PDU session represents a logical connection between theremote unit 105 and the User Plane Function (“UPF”) 141.

In order to establish the PDU session (or PDN connection), the remoteunit 105 must be registered with the mobile core network 140 (alsoreferred to as “attached to the mobile core network” in the context of aFourth Generation (“4G”) system). Note that the remote unit 105 mayestablish one or more PDU sessions (or other data connections) with themobile core network 140. As such, the remote unit 105 may have at leastone PDU session for communicating with the packet data network 150. Theremote unit 105 may establish additional PDU sessions for communicatingwith other data networks and/or other communication peers.

In the context of a 5G system (“5GS”), the term “PDU Session” refers toa data connection that provides end-to-end (“E2E”) user plane (“UP”)connectivity between the remote unit 105 and a specific Data Network(“DN”) through the UPF 141. A PDU Session supports one or more Qualityof Service (“QoS”) Flows. In certain embodiments, there may be aone-to-one mapping between a QoS Flow and a QoS profile, such that allpackets belonging to a specific QoS Flow have the same 5G QoS Identifier(“5QI”).

In the context of a 4G/LTE system, such as the Evolved Packet System(“EPS”), a Packet Data Network (“PDN”) connection (also referred to asEPS session) provides E2E UP connectivity between the remote unit and aPDN. The PDN connectivity procedure establishes an EPS Bearer, i.e., atunnel between the remote unit 105 and a Packet Gateway (“PGW”, notshown) in the mobile core network 140. In certain embodiments, there isa one-to-one mapping between an EPS Bearer and a QoS profile, such thatall packets belonging to a specific EPS Bearer have the same QoS ClassIdentifier (“QCI”).

The base units 121 may be distributed over a geographic region. Incertain embodiments, a base unit 121 may also be referred to as anaccess terminal, an access point, a base, a base station, a Node-B(“NB”), an Evolved Node B (abbreviated as eNodeB or “eNB,” also known asEvolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (“E-UTRAN”) Node B),a 5G/NR Node B (“gNB”), a Home Node-B, a relay node, a RAN node, or byany other terminology used in the art. The base units 121 are generallypart of a RAN, such as the RAN 120, that may include one or morecontrollers communicably coupled to one or more corresponding base units121. These and other elements of radio access network are notillustrated but are well known generally by those having ordinary skillin the art. The base units 121 connect to the mobile core network 140via the RAN 120.

The base units 121 may serve a number of remote units 105 within aserving area, for example, a cell or a cell sector, via a wirelesscommunication link 123. The base units 121 may communicate directly withone or more of the remote units 105 via communication signals.Generally, the base units 121 transmit DL communication signals to servethe remote units 105 in the time, frequency, and/or spatial domain.Furthermore, the DL communication signals may be carried over thewireless communication links 123. The wireless communication links 123may be any suitable carrier in licensed or unlicensed radio spectrum.The wireless communication links 123 facilitate communication betweenone or more of the remote units 105 and/or one or more of the base units121. Note that during NR operation on unlicensed spectrum (referred toas “NR-U″), the base unit 121 and the remote unit 105 communicate overunlicensed (i.e., shared) radio spectrum.

In one embodiment, the mobile core network 140 is a 5GC or an EvolvedPacket Core (“EPC”), which may be coupled to a packet data network 150,like the Internet and private data networks, among other data networks.A remote unit 105 may have a subscription or other account with themobile core network 140. In various embodiments, each mobile corenetwork 140 belongs to a single mobile network operator (“MNO”). Thepresent disclosure is not intended to be limited to the implementationof any particular wireless communication system architecture orprotocol.

The mobile core network 140 includes several network functions (“NFs”).As depicted, the mobile core network 140 includes at least one UPF 141.The mobile core network 140 also includes multiple control plane (“CP”)functions including, but not limited to, an Access and MobilityManagement Function (“AMF”) 143 that serves the RAN 120, a SessionManagement Function (“SMF”) 145, a Policy Control Function (“PCF”) 147,a Unified Data Management function (“UDM″”) and a User Data Repository(“UDR”). Although specific numbers and types of network functions aredepicted in FIG. 1A, one of skill in the art will recognize that anynumber and type of network functions may be included in the mobile corenetwork 140.

The UPF(s) 141 is/are responsible for packet routing and forwarding,packet inspection, QoS handling, and external PDU session forinterconnecting Data Network (“DN”), in the 5G architecture. The AMF 143is responsible for termination of NAS signaling, NAS ciphering &integrity protection, registration management, connection management,mobility management, access authentication and authorization, securitycontext management. The SMF 145 is responsible for session management(i.e., session establishment, modification, release), remote unit (i.e.,UE) IP address allocation & management, DL data notification, andtraffic steering configuration of the UPF 141 for proper trafficrouting.

The PCF 147 is responsible for unified policy framework, providingpolicy rules to CP functions, access subscription information for policydecisions in UDR. The UDM is responsible for generation ofAuthentication and Key Agreement (“AKA”) credentials, useridentification handling, access authorization, subscription management.The UDR is a repository of subscriber information and may be used toservice a number of network functions. For example, the UDR may storesubscription data, policy-related data, subscriber-related data that ispermitted to be exposed to third party applications, and the like. Insome embodiments, the UDM is co-located with the UDR, depicted ascombined entity “UDM/UDR” 149.

In various embodiments, the mobile core network 140 may also include aNetwork Repository Function (“NRF”) (which provides Network Function(“NF”) service registration and discovery, enabling NFs to identifyappropriate services in one another and communicate with each other overApplication Programming Interfaces (“APIs”)), a Network ExposureFunction (“NEF”) (which is responsible for making network data andresources easily accessible to customers and network partners), anAuthentication Server Function (“AUSF”), or other NFs defined for the5GC. When present, the AUSF may act as an authentication server and/orauthentication proxy, thereby allowing the AMF 143 to authenticate aremote unit 105. In certain embodiments, the mobile core network 140 mayinclude an authentication, authorization, and accounting (“AAA”) server.

In various embodiments, the mobile core network 140 supports differenttypes of mobile data connections and different types of network slices,wherein each mobile data connection utilizes a specific network slice.Here, a “network slice” refers to a portion of the mobile core network140 optimized for a certain traffic type or communication service. Forexample, one or more network slices may be optimized for enhanced mobilebroadband (“eMBB”) service. As another example, one or more networkslices may be optimized for ultra-reliable low-latency communication(“URLLC”) service. In other examples, a network slice may be optimizedfor machine-type communication (“MTC”) service, massive MTC (“mMTC”)service, Internet-of-Things (“IoT”) service. In yet other examples, anetwork slice may be deployed for a specific application service, avertical service, a specific use case, etc.

A network slice instance may be identified by a single-network sliceselection assistance information (“S-NSSAI”) while a set of networkslices for which the remote unit 105 is authorized to use is identifiedby network slice selection assistance information (“NSSAI”). Here,“NSSAI” refers to a vector value including one or more S-NSSAI values.In certain embodiments, the various network slices may include separateinstances of network functions, such as the SMF 145 and UPF 141. In someembodiments, the different network slices may share some common networkfunctions, such as the AMF 143. The different network slices are notshown in FIG. 1A for ease of illustration, but their support is assumed.

While FIG. 1A depicts components of a 5G RAN and a 5G core network, thedescribed embodiments for improved suspension of a data connection applyto other types of communication networks and RATs, including IEEE 802.11variants, Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”, i.e., a 2Gdigital cellular network), General Packet Radio Service (“GPRS”),Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“UMTS”), LTE variants, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Sigfox, and the like.

Moreover, in an LTE variant where the mobile core network 140 is an EPC,the depicted network functions may be replaced with appropriate EPCentities, such as a Mobility Management Entity (“MME”), a ServingGateway (“SGW”), a PGW, a Home Subscriber Server (“HSS”), and the like.For example, the AMF 143 may be mapped to an MME, the SMF 145 may bemapped to a control plane portion of a PGW and/or to an MME, the UPF 141may be mapped to an SGW and a user plane portion of the PGW, the UDM/UDR149 may be mapped to an HSS, etc.

As described in greater detail below, the base unit 121 may send aconfiguration message 127 to a remote unit 105, with the remote unit 105receiving a first configuration for a first fixed frame period (“FFP”)duration and receiving a second configuration for a second FFP duration,different than the first FFP duration. Based on an entity that acquiredthe Channel Occupancy (“CO”), the remote unit 105 selects a FFP durationfor a UL transmission and transmits the UL transmission 129 in the COwith the selected FFP duration, where the selected FFP duration eitherthe first FFP duration or the second FFP duration.

In the following descriptions, the term “gNB” is used for the basestation (i.e., base unit 121) but it is replaceable by any other radioaccess node, e.g., RAN node, eNB, BS, eNB, gNB, access point (“AP”), NR,etc. In the following descriptions, the term “UE” is used for the remoteunit 105. Further the operations are described mainly in the context of5G NR. However, the proposed solutions/methods are also equallyapplicable to other mobile communication systems supportingcommunication on unlicensed spectrum.

It should be mentioned that throughout the disclosure, the terms symbol,slot, subslot and transmission time interval (“TTI”) refers to a timeunit with a particular duration (e.g., symbol could be afraction/percentage of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(“OFDM”) symbol length associated with a particular subcarrier spacing(“SCS”)).

In the following, an UL transmission (e.g., UL transmission burst) maybe comprised of multiple transmissions (e.g., of the same or differentpriority, in case a priority is associated with the transmissions) withgaps between the transmissions, wherein the gaps are short enough induration to not necessitate performing a channel sensing/LBT operationbetween the transmissions.

In the following, an UL transmission may refer to a Physical UplinkShared Channel (“PUSCH”) transmission, a Physical Uplink Control Channel(“PUCCH”) transmission, Random Access Channel (“RACH”) transmission,and/or an UL signal. In certain embodiments, an UL transmission maycontain Uplink Control Information (“UCI”), such as Configured Grant UCI(“CG-UCI”) containing information regarding the acquired COT such as COTsharing information. In certain embodiments, the UL transmission maycontain Scheduling Request (“SR”) or periodic Channel State Information(“CSI”) or semi-persistent CSI. Throughout the disclosure, sometimes COand COT are used interchangeably. It should be noted that the belowdescribed embodiments, examples and implementations, may also beapplicable to sidelink transmissions.

Devices/network nodes, such as gNBs, that operate in unlicensed/sharedspectrum may be required to perform Listen Before Talk (“LBT,” alsoreferred to as channel sensing) prior to being able to transmit in theunlicensed spectrum. If the device/network node performing LBT does notdetect the presence of other signals in the channel, the medium/channelis considered for transmission.

FIG. 1B depicts one embodiment of a Fixed Frame Period structure 170. AFixed Frame Period 171 is comprised of a Channel Occupancy Time (“COT”)171 and an idle period 175. In FBE (frame based equipment) mode ofoperation, the UE or gNB performs LBT in an idle period 173 and uponacquiring the channel/medium, the UE or gNB can communicate within thenon-idle time of a fixed frame period duration (referred to as channeloccupancy time (“COT”) 173). In current specifications/regulations, theidle time 175 is not to be shorter than the maximum of: 5% of the FFP171, and 100 microseconds (“µs”).

Regarding unlicensed/shared spectrum technology, the followingterminologies are defined:

A “channel” refers to a carrier or a part of a carrier consisting of acontiguous set of resource blocks (“RBs”) on which a channel accessprocedure is performed in shared spectrum.

A “channel access procedure” refers to a sensing-based procedure thatevaluates the availability of a channel for performing transmissions.The basic unit for sensing is a sensing slot with a duration T_(sl) = 9µs. The sensing slot duration T_(sl) is considered to be idle if aneNB/gNB or a UE senses the channel during the sensing slot duration, anddetermines that the detected power for at least 4 µs within the sensingslot duration is less than energy detection threshold X_(Thresh).Otherwise, the sensing slot duration T_(sl) is considered to be busy.

A “channel occupancy” refers to transmission(s) on channel(s) byeNB(s)/gNB(s) or UE(s) after performing the corresponding channel accessprocedures, e.g., as described in 3GPP TS 37.213.

A “Channel Occupancy Time” refers to the total time for which theinitiating eNB/gNB or UE and any eNB(s)/gNB(s) or UE(s) sharing thechannel occupancy perform transmission(s) on a channel, i.e., after aneNB/gNB or UE performs the corresponding channel access proceduresdescribed in this clause. For determining a Channel Occupancy Time, if atransmission gap is less than or equal to 25 µs, the gap duration iscounted in the channel occupancy time. A channel occupancy time can beshared for transmission between an eNB/gNB and the corresponding UE(s).

A “DL transmission burst” is defined as a set of transmissions from aneNB/gNB without any gaps greater than 16 µs. Transmissions from aneNB/gNB separated by a gap of more than 16 µs are considered as separateDL transmission bursts. An eNB/gNB may transmit transmission(s) after agap within a DL transmission burst without sensing the correspondingchannel(s) for availability.

A “UL transmission burst” is defined as a set of transmissions from a UEwithout any gaps greater than 16 µs. Transmissions from the same UEwhich are separated by a gap of more than 16 µs are considered asseparate UL transmission bursts. A UE may transmit subsequenttransmission(s) after a gap within a UL transmission burst withoutsensing the corresponding channel(s) for availability.

A UE may perform channel sensing and access the channel if it senses thechannel to be idle. UE-initiated COT may be especially useful inlow-latency applications, wherein the UE having UL data to be sent inconfigured grant resources is allowed to initiate a COT. Sometimes, itis useful to share the acquired COT with the gNB, such that gNB couldschedule DL or UL for the same UE or for other UEs.

Note that a UE may have up to 12 simultaneously active configured grantsfor a bandwidth part (“BWP”) of a serving cell. Each configured grantmay have a physical layer priority indicator (e.g.,phy-PriorityIndex-r16). In certain embodiments, a single configuredgrant can be activated via a DCI, and multiple configured grants can bedeactivated/released simultaneously via a DCI.

A UL cancellation indication (“ULCI”) is an indication sent in a groupcommon Physical Downlink Control Channel (“PDCCH”) (DCI format 2_4) foreach serving cell and the indication indicates a set of time-frequencyresources wherein the UE should be muted.

Regarding when a UE is allowed to initiate channel occupancy (“CO”),under certain conditions allowing only certain UEs to initiate a ChannelOccupancy Time (“COT”) at the beginning of a frame period - instead ofallowing a large number of UEs (or most UEs capable of UE COTinitiation) to initiate a COT - may have certain advantages, asdiscussed below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 .

FIG. 2 depicts an example frame structure 200 of a set of UEs, accordingto embodiments of the disclosure. The frame structure 200 is shared by afirst UE (i.e., “UE-1”) 201 and a second UE (i.e., “UE-2”) 203 where theUE-1 201 has high priority (“HP”) data to transmit and the UE-2 203 haslow priority (“LP”) data at the beginning of a COT 205 of a FFP 207.Note that the FFP 207 comprises the COT 205 and an idle period 209.Here, the UE 201 and UE 203 are embodiments of the remote unit 105,described above.

Note that if the UE-1 201 and UE-2 203 both attempt to transmit theirdata at the beginning of the COT 205, there may be a collision resultingin the RAN being unable to decode the HP data. Consequently, the UE-1201 would need to retransmit the HP data, resulting in unwanted delay ofthe HP data and inefficient use of the radio interface.

According to a first solution, only the first UE 201 is allowed toinitiate a COT during the FFP 207 due to having HP data to transmit. Inone example, allowing only UEs with high priority data and/or controlinformation to initiate a COT improves network performance by allowingsuch UEs to use the beginning of the COT 205 to transmit their HPdata/control signals. For instance, the first UE 201 may have a firstPUSCH transmission 211 (i.e., containing the HP data) to be transmittedin a configured grant resource at the beginning of the FFP 207 with aPUSCH priority set to ‘high’ (e.g., PUSCH transmission with a priorityindex 1), as depicted in FIG. 2 . Further assume that the second UE 203has a second PUSCH transmission 213 (i.e., containing the LP data) to betransmitted in a configured grant resource at the beginning of the FFP207 with a PUSCH priority set to ‘low’ or without a PUSCH prioritysignaled for the PUSCH transmission (e.g., PUSCH transmission with apriority index 0).

Both the first and second UEs 201, 203 compete for the channel. Assumingboth UEs 201, 203 using the same Listen-Before-Talk (“LBT”) Bandwidth(“BW”), the UEs 201, 203 would both sense the channel free and transmiton the channel leading to collision. In one implementation, thetime-frequency resources of the first PUSCH transmission 211 and thesecond PUSCH transmission 213 overlap. For instance, assume that thefirst PUSCH transmission 211 is to be transmitted in a BW of 20 MHz andthe second PUSCH transmission 213 is to be transmitted in a BW of 16 MHz(or some other BW that satisfies a minimum channel occupancy BW), wherethe BWs overlap.

In such a case, the HP data (e.g., associated with a low-latencycommunication and/or ultra-reliable low-latency communication (“URLLC”))would be delayed due to collision. However, if only UEs with highpriority data were permitted to initiate a COT, then there would not bea collision between the PUSCH transmissions 211, 213 of the first UE 201and the second UE 203 (e.g., because the second UE 203 does not performchannel access procedure and cannot initiate a COT), and the first UE201 would be able to transmit its high priority PUSCH transmission 211.

However, if the first PUSCH transmission 211 and the second PUSCHtransmission 213 do not overlap in frequency, then both the first UE 201and the second UE 203 are able to send their transmissions at thebeginning of the FFP 207 without collision. Accordingly, when both firstPUSCH transmission 211 and second PUSCH transmission 213 are highpriority PUSCH, the first UE 201 and second UE 203 may be usenon-overlapping time-frequency resources to prevent collision.

In one embodiment, UL interlace structure (e.g., using UL frequencyresource allocation type 2) may be used to prevent time-frequencyresource overlap. A PUSCH is transmitted in a set of frequencyinterlaces (each containing one or more contiguous RBs as described insection 6.1.2.2.3 of TS 38.214, for instance. To avoid frequencyoverlap, the first PUSCH transmission 211 and the second PUSCHtransmission 213 may be transmitted in Resource Blocks (“RBs”) ofdifferent sets of interlace indices. In one implementation, both thefirst PUSCH transmission 211 and the second PUSCH transmission 213 usethe LBT BW of 20 MHz, but the first PUSCH transmission 211 uses onlyeven-numbered RBs, while the second PUSCH transmission 213 uses onlyodd-numbered RBs. Thus, both the first PUSCH transmission 211 and thesecond PUSCH transmission 213 occupy 20 MHz in a distributed fashion.

In another embodiment, time-frequency resource overlap is prevented byhaving the first PUSCH transmission 211 and the second PUSCHtransmission 213 sent in different LBT bandwidths. In yet anotherembodiment, time-frequency resource overlap is prevented by reducing thechannel occupancy BW of the first and second PUSCH transmissions 211,213 so that the transmissions occupy a non-overlapping portion of thechannel (i.e., LBT) bandwidth. Here, there is no minimum channeloccupancy BW requirement to be satisfied.

FIG. 3 depicts an example network deployment 300, according toembodiments of the disclosure. The network deployment 300 includes a gNB301, the first UE 201 and the second UE 203, where first UE 201 has HPdata and the second UE2 has LP data at the beginning of a COT/FFP, suchas the COP 205 in the FFP 207. Here, the gNB 301 may be one embodimentof the base unit 121.

According to a second solution, both the first UE 201 and second UE 203are allowed to initiate COT as the gNB 301 is able to receivesignals/transmissions from both UEs 201, 203 on different receive (“RX”)beams, respectively. In another example, if multiple UEs have eithersame or different priority of data to be transmitted on their respectiveconfigured grant (“CG”) resources that may have at least partiallyoverlapping time-frequency resources, wherein each of the CG resourcesfor each of the UEs is also configured with a spatial relationinformation (for example, using a Transmission Configuration Indicator(“TCI”) index), then the gNB 301 allows only those UEs to initiate COTthat can be received by the gNB 301 on different set of Receive (“Rx”)beams at the same time.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3 , the first UE 201 is transmitting thefirst PUSCH transmission 211 on its Transmit (“TX”) beam 1 (i.e., basedon configured and/or indicated TCI index for a first configured grant ofthe first UE 201) and the second UE 203 is transmitting the second PUSCHtransmission 213 on its TX beam 2 (i.e., based on configured and/orindicated TCI index for a first configured grant of the second UE 203),then the gNB 203 is able to receive both separate beams, i.e., on its Rxbeam 1 and RX beam 2, respectively. In one example, the source referencesignal (“RS”) associated with the spatial relation information/TCI stateis different for the first UE 201 and the second UE 203, e.g.,corresponding to different receive beam(s) at the gNB 301. In anotherexample, the source reference signal associated with the spatialrelation information and/or TCI state is same for the first UE 201 andsecond UE 203, e.g., corresponding to same receive beams at the gNB 301,but where the time-frequency resources for the first UE 201 and secondUE 203 do not overlap.

In a first embodiment, a UE may be enabled to initiate a COT under oneor more of the following rules: 1) Rule#1: the UE has an UL transmission(e.g., pending UL transmission) in a configured grant resource thatoccurs at a beginning of a frame period; and 2) Rule#2: the UE has an ULtransmission in a configured grant resource which occurs at most ‘x’symbols after the beginning of a frame period. In one example of Rule#2,“x” is determined based on a UE capability indication, based on RadioResource Control (“RRC”) signaling, or indicated in DCI in a previousFFP (e.g., immediately preceding FFP). In another example of Rule#2, theUL transmission is a first UL transmission, and the UE may initiate aCOT if the UE has a second UL transmission with resources overlapping atleast in time with the first UL transmission and the resources of thesecond UL transmission start from the beginning of the FFP.

FIG. 4 depicts a diagram 400 illustrating one embodiment of a ULtransmission burst. Specifically, FIG. 4 depicts a low priority (“LP”)transmission and a high priority (“HP”) transmission in an FFP 401. TheHP transmission is ‘x’ symbols 403 after the start of the FFP 401, andan UL burst 405 ends at the end of the HP transmission. Thus, the ULburst 405 is from the beginning of the FFP 401 at least till the end ofthe HP UL transmission, according to one example of Rule#2. In FIG. 4 ,a first UL transmission is a HP PUSCH transmission in a configuredresource and a second UL transmission is a LP PUSCH transmission inanother configured resource. The UE transmits at least the first ULtransmission and at least a portion of the second UL transmission.

FIG. 5 depicts a diagram 500 illustrating one embodiment of a UEtransmitting LP data prior to transmitting HP data. Specifically, FIG. 5depicts a LP transmission, a canceled LP transmission portion, and a HPtransmission in an FFP. The HP transmission is ‘x’ symbols 501 after thestart of the LP transmission, and there is a gap 503 between the LPtransmission and the HP transmission. Indeed, FIG. 5 depicts an examplescenario in which a UE transmits its LP UL transmission at least tillthe gap 503 between the LP transmission and the HP transmission (e.g.,the gap 503 may be less than the gap for which sensing is required(e.g., 16 µs) according to one example of Rule#2).

In one embodiment, the UE is required not to cancel the LP transmission(i.e., a first UL transmission) earlier than a gap between the LPtransmission and the HP transmission (i.e., a second UL transmission),where the gap is less than the gap for which sensing is required (e.g.,16 µs, see FIG. 5 ). In another embodiment, the UE may cancel the LPtransmission (first UL transmission) earlier than the sensing requiredgap value from the start of the HP transmission (second UL transmission)and may transmit a reservation signal (e.g., a reference signal) toavoid sensing the channel, until at least after the start of the HPtransmission less the sensing required gap value or the UE may extend acyclic prefix (“CP”) of the first symbol (e.g., of the HP transmission)that is located before the configured resource associated with the HPtransmission.

In some embodiments, the UE may transmit the LP transmission and the HPtransmission at the same time if the LP transmission and the HPtransmission do not overlap in frequency (e.g., using resource blocks(“RBs”) corresponding to different interlace indices).

In various embodiments, the LP transmission and the HP transmission areassociated with the same UE TX beam and/or the same gNB RX beam (e.g.,the same source reference signal for spatial relation information and/ora TCI state for the LP transmission and the HP transmission).

In certain embodiments, the LP transmission and the HP transmission areassociated with different UE TX beams, antenna arrays, and/or antennapanels.

In some embodiments, a gNB indicates (e.g., in a DCI in a most recentand/or previous FFP) a list of spatial relation source references RS(e.g., gNB RX beam - the gNB uses the same spatial filter for receivingas that used for transmitting the spatial relation reference signal),and the UE has an UL transmission (e.g., pending UL transmission) in aconfigured grant resource that occurs at or at most ‘x’ symbols afterthe beginning of a frame period with a spatial relation reference RScorresponding to the UL transmission from the indicated list of spatialrelation source references RS.

Referring again to the rules under which a UE is allowed to initiate aCOT, there may be a Rule#3 in which the UE has a first UL transmissionin a first configured grant resource that occurs at most ‘g1’ time unitsafter a second UL transmission in a second configured grant resourcestarting from the beginning of the FFP. In one example, ‘g1’ time unitsis less than a threshold for which the UE needs to perform channelsensing before transmission of the first UL transmission after thetransmission of the second UL transmission.

FIG. 6 depicts a diagram 600 illustrating one embodiment of a shiftedhigh priority transmission. Specifically, FIG. 6 depicts an LPtransmission, an original HP transmission, and a shifted HP transmissionin an FFP. The original HP transmission is ‘x’ symbols 601 after thestart of the LP transmission. There is a gap 603 (g1) between the LPtransmission and the original HP transmission, a gap 605 (g2) betweenthe LP transmission and the shifted HP transmission, and an offset 607(t) is between the start of the shifted HP transmission and the start ofthe original HP transmission. Indeed, FIG. 6 depicts an example of ashifted high priority transmission 600 where the gap 605 g2 does notrequire channel sensing after the LP transmission, according to oneexample of Rule#3. In some embodiments of Rule#3, to avoid performingchannel sensing and/or LBT (e.g., Cat 2 LBT or Cat 4 LBT) fortransmitting the first UL transmission (e.g., HP transmission in FIG. 6), the UE transmits the first UL transmission earlier (e.g., by applyinga time offset ‘t’ to the first configured grant resource) leading to nogap and/or a small gap g2 after the second UL transmission (e.g., seeFIG. 6 ).

In certain embodiments, for a gNB to able to decode a shiftedtransmission, it may be expected to apply a rule for receiving a highpriority CG as follows: if within a UE initiated FFP, there may be alow-priority CG and if it is followed by a high priority CG but with agap greater than a value required to perform channel sensing again, thenthe gNB may expect that the UE started the transmission of high-priorityCG earlier such that the gap is reduced to at most ‘g2’ time units (inFIG. 6 ). In one example, ‘t’ may be determined such that the first ULtransmission starts from the next available UL symbol and/or slot afterthe second UL transmission.

FIG. 7 depicts a diagram 700 illustrating one embodiment of an extendedhigh priority transmission. Specifically, FIG. 7 depicts an LPtransmission, an original HP transmission, and an extended HPtransmission in an FFP. The original HP transmission is ‘x’ symbols 701after the start of the LP transmission. There is a gap 703 (i.e., g1)between the LP transmission and the original HP transmission, and a gap705 (i.e., g2) between the LP transmission and the extended HPtransmission. Indeed, FIG. 7 depicts an example of extended highpriority transmission where the gap 705 g2 does not require channelsensing after LP transmission, according to one example of Rule#3. Inone embodiment of Rule#3, the CP associated with the first ULtransmission is increased to avoid performing channel sensing (see FIG.7 ). In one example, the CP is increased only if ‘g1’ is small enoughthat with a CP increase the gap may be shrunk to ‘g2’ that is shorterthan the gap required for sensing between transmission bursts.

Referring again to the rules under which a UE is allowed to initiate aCOT, Rule#4: gNB indicates (e.g., in a DCI or medium access control(“MAC”) control element (“CE”) (“MAC-CE”) in a most recent and/orprevious FFP) a list of spatial relation source references RS (e.g., gNBRx beam - the gNB uses the same spatial filter for receiving as thatused for transmission the spatial relation reference signal), and the UEhas an UL transmission (e.g., pending UL transmission) in a configuredgrant resource that occurs at or at most ‘x’ symbols after the beginningof a frame period with a spatial relation reference RS corresponding tothe UL transmission being from the indicated list of spatial relationsource references RS. Thus, the gNB may indicate to UEs with an ULtransmission using a spatial transmission filter that is the same asthat used for receiving one of the reference signals from the list ofspatial relation references RS enabled that they are allowed to initiatea COT.

In one embodiment, a list of spatial relation source references RS maybe applicable to all slots in an FFP. In another embodiment, a firstreference RS in a list of spatial relation source references RS isapplicable to a first slot in the FFP, a second reference RS in the listof spatial relation source references RS is applicable to a second slotin the FFP, and so forth with modulo or repetition mapping. For example,with modulo mapping, reference RS (e.g., m mod N) is applicable to slotm, with N being the number of RS in the list. With repetition mapping,reference RS (e.g., floor(m/P) mod N) may be applicable to slot m, withN being the number of RS in the list, and P being a repetition of the RSin successive slots (e.g., same gNB beam for P successive slots).

In some embodiments, a list of spatial relation source references RS mayinclude a list of groups of reference RS (e.g., simultaneous RX beams atgNB - associated with different gNB antenna arrays, panels, and/ortransmission and reception points (“TRPs”)). A first group of RS in thelist may be applicable to a first slot in an FFP, a second group of RSin the list of spatial relation source references RS may be applicableto a second slot in the FFP, and so forth with modulo or repetitionmapping. For example, a RS (e.g., m mod N) may be applicable to slot m,with N being a number of RS in the list.

In various embodiments, a number of symbols instead of a slot may beused. The number of symbols indicate which spatial relations may beapplicable to and/or which modulo or repetition mapping to apply to theUE (e.g., in the DCI and/or MAC-CE indicating the list of the spatialrelation RS). In one example, the UL transmission is a PUSCHtransmission. In another example, the UL transmission is a PUSCHtransmission with PUSCH priority set to ‘high.’ In a further example,the UL transmission is a periodic and/or semi-persistent SoundingReference Signal (“SRS”) transmission. In one example, the ULtransmission is a periodic and/or semi-persistent SRS transmission withSRS priority set to ‘high,’ and the SRS priority is part of the SRSconfiguration or indicated in a DCI activating semi-persistent SRStransmissions. In another example, the configured grant resource isassociated with a configured grant configuration with a priority set to‘high’ (e.g., phy-PriorityIndex set to ‘p1’). In a further example, theconfigured grant resource is associated with a configured grantconfiguration, wherein a field in the CG configuration indicates thatthe UE may initiate a COT.

In certain embodiments, one or more of the rules described herein andvalues (e.g., x, t, g1, g2) may be determined via: 1) higher layersignaling (e.g., RRC configuration, MAC-CE, and so forth); 2) physicallayer signaling (e.g., DCI indication); and/or 3) UE capabilityindication and/or signaling (e.g., a UE may indicate whether it iscapable of applying one or more of the rules described herein).

In some embodiments, a UE may be enabled to initiate a COT if the UEreceives an indication from a network providing channel accessparameters (e.g., ChannelAccessMode-r16 =‘semistatic’) by SIB1 or adedicated configuration. In one example, the UE is enabled to initiate aCOT if the UE has indicated a capability of performing UE initiated COTto the network.

In various embodiments, regarding managing an UL burst transmission at abeginning of a UE-initiated COT for COT sharing, if COT sharing with agNB is desired and/or enabled for the UE-initiated COT, a first ULtransmission (e.g., transmission burst) sent by the UE used forinitiating the COT may not take most of an acquired FFP as there may notbe many time resources left for COT sharing. There may be a limit on theduration of an UL transmission following acquiring a COT by a UE.

In certain embodiments, to ensure a first UL transmit burst can bedecoded at a gNB, UEs initiating a COT may transmit their first ULtransmission burst after acquiring the COT with higher power than usual.In one example, the first UL transmission burst, after acquiring theUE-initiated COT, may be associated with a first power offset valueand/or first power control parameters (e.g., Po (open-loop powerspectral density (“PSD”) level), alpha (pathloss compensation factor)).The first power offset value and/or the first power control parametersmay be used only if an UL transmission burst is the first ULtransmission burst after acquiring the UE-initiated COT.

FIG. 8 depicts a diagram 800 illustrating one embodiment of overlappingconfigured grant resources. Specifically, diagram 800 includes a firstFFP (i.e., FFP1) and a second FFP (i.e., FFP2). FFP1 includes a first CGresource (CG1), and FFP2 includes a first CG resource (i.e., CG1) and asecond CG resource (i.e., CG2). Resources of CG1 and CG2 overlap in FFP2due to having different periodicities. In certain embodiments, such asin URLLC, a UE may have up to 12 active CG configurations per BWP.Theses CG configurations have their own periodicities (e.g., defined pereach CG configuration (ConfiguredGrantConfig)). Due to having differentperiodicities, the resources associated with two CG configurations maycollide as shown in FIG. 8 .

In a first implementation of a second embodiment, a UE may have a firstactive configured grant CG1 and a second active configured grant CG2,wherein: 1) CG1 and CG2 are simultaneously active in the same BWP; 2) afirst transmission occasion (“TO”) of CG1 (i.e., TO1) and a second TO ofCG2 (i.e., TO2) overlap at the beginning of an FFP (e.g., in a firstslot at the beginning of a FFP); 3) TO1 is shorter than TO2 (see FIG. 8); and 4) the UE has a transport block (“TB”) to transmit in one of TO1or TO2. Accordingly, the UE transmits the TB in TO1.

In some configurations of the second embodiment, the TB is a new TB. Inanother configuration of the second embodiment, the TB is aretransmission of a previous TB (e.g., if cg-RetransmissionTimer isconfigured for at least one of CG1 and CG2 or configured for the HARQprocess associated with the TB, and the timer is expired). In variousconfigurations of the second embodiment, the UE transmits in FFP2 usingCG1 resource after grabbing the channel via sensing in an idle period(e.g., at the end of FFP1). In certain configurations of the secondembodiment, the UE transmits the TB in TO1 if the CG1 and CG2 have thesame transport block size (“TBS”). In some configurations of the secondembodiment, the UE may not transmit and/or is not expected to transmitthe TB in TO2. Such UE operation may be different than otherconfigurations in which retransmissions with the same HARQ process maybe performed on any configured grant configuration if the configuredgrant configurations have the same TBS.

In certain configurations of the second embodiment, the UE transmits theTB in TO1 if TO1 and TO2 have the same redundancy version (“RV”). Insome configurations of the second embodiment, the UE decides on which TOfrom TO1 and TO2 to use if both TO1 and TO2 are shorter than athreshold. Such configurations may be useful if both TO1 and TO2 areshort enough to not take most of the FFP, and leave room for the gNB toschedule other DL and/or UL communications for the UE or for other UEs.The threshold may be indicated to the UE via dedicated configuration,via SIB1 message, via activation DCI for each CG, via MAC CE, and soforth.

FIG. 9 depicts a diagram 900 illustrating one embodiment of a fixedframe period. Specifically, diagram 900 includes a first FFP (FFP1).FFP1 includes a first CG resource (CG1) associated with 4 repetitions, anew TB is transmitted using the two repetitions (e.g., one initialtransmission and one repetition), K1=4 and K=2. In a secondimplementation of the second embodiment, a UE has a first active CG1,and the UE has a TB (e.g., a new TB or retransmission of a previous TB)to transmit in a transmission resource of CG1. A number of repetitionsto be applied to the TB is a first number ‘K1’, where the transmissionresource of CG1 occurs at the beginning of an FFP.

If the UE is successful in initiating a CO (e.g., accessing the FFP),the UE transmits the TB in part of the transmission resource (e.g.,starting from the beginning of the COT), and repeats the TB up to Ktimes, wherein “K<=K1”. An example is shown in FIG. 9 where K1=4 andK=2.

The parameter K1 may be indicated via RRC as part of CG1 configurationor indicated in DCI activating the CG1 configuration for type 2configured grant. In one implementation of the second embodiment, the UEterminates the UL transmission after K repetitions.

The parameter K may be indicated or determined via: 1) RRC, such as CG1configuration; 2) a DCI such as the DCI activating the CG1 or a DCI witha DCI format, wherein the DCI is sent in a previous FFP (e.g., the DCIis sent within the last ‘x’ symbols, slots, subslots, and/or time unitsbefore the end of the previous FFP (e.g., the idle time of the FFP); or3) a difference or a fraction of K1, such as two repetitions less (e.g.,lower-bounded by K=1 repetition) or half the value of K1 (e.g., roundedup or down as necessary), where the difference or fraction may bepredetermined from a configuration, a signal, or from a standard.

In a third implementation of the second embodiment, a UE that hasacquired a COT may terminate its first UL transmission (e.g.,transmission burst) in an acquired CO based on DCI that has beenreceived in a prior CO. In one example, the DCI command is valid for acertain number of FFPs and/or COs (e.g., the next immediate FFP and/orCO). In another example, the DCI has a DCI format used for ULCIindication (e.g., DCI format 2_4). In certain embodiments, a time regionfor ULCI indication may be determined based on a periodicity of the ULCImonitoring for periodicities larger than a slot.

In one configuration, the time region includes an idle period. Inanother configuration, the time region does not include the idle period.In a further configuration, the time region includes the idle period,but symbols of the idle period are excluded from a set of symbols of thetime region for the purpose of partitioning the set of symbols of thetime region and indicating ULCI for each partition.

In some embodiments, symbols of a first ‘S’ slots of a second FFP isexcluded from a set of symbols of the time region for the purpose ofpartitioning the set of symbols of the time region, and indicating ULCIfor each partition. The ULCI is received in a first FFP, and the secondFFP is after the first FFP (e.g., next FFP).

In one embodiment, a first time region associated with a first ULCIreceived in a first FFP is different than a second time regionassociated with a second ULCI received in the first FFP, wherein: 1) thefirst ULCI is applicable only to the time resources of the first FFP;and 2) the second ULCI is applicable to the time resources of a secondFFP, wherein the second FFP is an FFP after the first FFP. In oneexample, the second time region is defined to start from the beginningof the next FFP and/or CO, and not based on the monitoring occasion inwhich the second ULCI is received. In another example, the time regionassociated with an ULCI is determined based on an indication (e.g., afield in the ULCI). The indication indicates if the time region isdetermined based on the monitoring occasion in which the ULCI isreceived, based on the periodicity of the ULCI monitoring, based on thesymbols wherein the ULCI is received, and/or based on another method(e.g., the time region starts from the beginning of the next FFP and/orCO). In a further example, the first time region is a first number ofslots in duration and the second time region is a second number of slotsin duration, and the second number of slots is larger than the firstnumber of slots.

In various configurations: 1) the second time region is ‘m’ times of thefirst time region; 2) a first number of partitions of the first timeregion is indicated in a first RRC message (e.g., indicated bytimeGranularityforCI as part of ULCI configuration UplinkCancellation);3) a second number of partitions of the second time region is equal tothe first number of partitions (e.g., leading to more symbols within apartition compared to the number of symbols within a partition of thefirst time region), wherein ‘m’: is a) indicated in an RRC message(e.g., in UplinkCancellation configuration, and is only applicable for ashared spectrum or FBE mode - if the UE receives ULCI in the sharedspectrum); or 2) indicated in the ULCI. In one example, a new field orsome of the bits of ULCI (e.g., such as first and/or last ‘x’ bits ofthe indication or those used for frequency indication) may be used. ‘x’can be fixed in a specification, or may be configurable.

In a fourth implementation of the second embodiment, a UE skips a firstCG configuration, and transmits on a second CG configuration if PUSCHoccasions of the second CG configuration end earlier than those of thefirst CG configuration unless the UL transmission associated with thefirst configuration has a high priority.

FIG. 10 depicts a diagram 1000 illustrating one embodiment of a UEtransmitting multiple UL bursts over an FFP 1001. The UL bursts includea 1st UL 1003 on a first CG resource (CG1 resource 1) with a TX powerP1, and a 2nd UL 1005 on a second CG resource (CG1 resource 2) with a TXpower P2. A UE, after acquiring COT, transmits in CG1 resource 1 (e.g.,first UL transmission burst) with power P1 and transmits in CG1 resource2 (e.g., a later UL transmission burst) with power P2. In a fifthimplementation of the second embodiment, a UE performs configured grantPUSCH transmissions (see FIG. 10 ) with a first transmission power (P1)after acquiring the COT for a first time duration, and with a secondtransmission power (P2) after reception of DL signals from gNB withinthe COT. In one example, the first transmission power is higher than thesecond transmission power (P1 >= P2). In another example, the firsttransmission power is derived based on the second transmission power(e.g., P1 = P2 + d), wherein “d” is fixed in a specification, derivedbased on a UE capability, RRC configured, and/or indicated by DCI.Having “P1” higher than “P2” may be useful to facilitate a gNB getting aconfigured grant UL transmission for a first time duration.

In one example, P1 >= P2 if the first UL transmission burst afteracquiring and/or initiating a CO is of ‘high priority’ (e.g., the higherlayer parameter phy-PriorityIndex in ConfiguredGrantConfig is set to ‘p1′/high priority). In another example, the transmission power for ULtransmissions (e.g., CG-UCI, PUCCH) for a first time duration afteracquiring COT is different than the transmission power for ULtransmissions after the first time duration.

In various embodiments, the gNB indicates a maximum number of symbols,slots, and/or transmission occasions that a UE may use for ULtransmissions at the beginning of a FFP for a UE that has acquired aCOT. The indication may be signaled in a DCI in a preceding FFP (e.g.,the DCI is sent within the last ‘x’ symbols, slots, subslots, and/ortime units before the end of the previous FFP and/or the idle time ofthe FFP), and the indication may be signaled via higher layer signalingsuch as RRC, MAC-CE, a CG configuration, and/or CG activating DCI.

In certain embodiments, a UE which received an ULCI for a set ofresources, wherein the set of resources overlap with a UE’s PUSCHtransmission having an interlaced structure, may cancel an entire PUSCHincluding non-overlapped interlaces (or repetitions of the PUSCH whichoverlap with the set of resources) or may not cancel transmissions incertain interlaces.

Regarding signaling between a UE and gNB regarding UE-initiated channeloccupancy, in some embodiments signaling may be exchanged between thegNB and UEs allowed to initiate a COT (e.g., one or more UEs indicatingthe capability of initiating a COT, UEs configured for COT initiation,and/or UEs satisfying one of the rules described in above), where thesignaling indicates whether the UEs receiving the signaling arepermitted to initiate a COT in a future FFP.

For example, the future FFP/COT may be an immediate FFP occurring afterthe current FFP/COT. As another example, the future FFP/COT may be thenext ‘F’ FFPs/COTs after the current FFP/COT, where the value of ‘F’ issignaled in a DCI, is configured by RRC, is fixed in specifications, oris dependent on parameters such as FFP/COT duration, SCS, etc. In yetanother example, UEs having multiple simultaneously active CGconfigurations in a BWP of a serving cell, may be able to initiate a COTin certain CG configurations.

In some embodiments, signaling may be exchanged between the gNB and afirst UE regarding a COT acquired by a second UE. Here, the signalingindicates whether the COT is a gNB-acquired COT (also referred to as“RAN-acquired COT”) or a UE-acquired COT. Note that a gNB-acquired COTmay be associated with a first FFP, while a UE-initiated COT may beassociated with a second FFP, different than the first.

In a first implementation of a third embodiment, an indication from thenetwork in a first FFP is used to indicate to a COT-enabled UE (i.e., aUE allowed/enabled to initiate a COT) whether the UE is permitted toinitiate a COP in a second FFP that occurs after the first FFP. Incertain embodiments, the received indication is a DCI. In one example,the DCI is a group common DCI, and can use one of the existing DCI 2_xformats (i.e., where x=0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Alternatively, the receivedindication may be a Medium Access Control (“MAC”) Control Element(“CE”), RRC signaling, or another indication.

In one example, the DCI is monitored not more than ‘m’ times in thefirst FFP. In one embodiment, the value of ‘m’ is 1. In anotherembodiment, the value of ‘m’ may be fixed in specifications. In certainembodiments, the value of ‘m’ depends on the FFP duration (e.g.,gNB-acquired FFP/CO duration, or UE-initiated FFP/CO duration, where thegNB-acquired FFP/COT duration and UE-initiated FFP/COT durations aredifferent). In other embodiments, the value of ‘m’ may be RRC configuredor derived based on a search space monitoring periodicity.

In one example, the DCI is monitored in one of the last slots (orsubslots or monitoring occasions) of the first FFP. For instance, theDCI monitoring occasion, based on the search space wherein the DCI ismonitored. Here, the DCI monitoring occasion is not more than certaintime from the end of the first FFP or the idle period of the first FFP.

In one example, in a current FFP or COT, the DCI indicates that UEshaving a particular transmission attribute (such as a DCI field set to aparticular value or an RRC parameter set to a particular value) cannotinitiate a future FFP or COT (e.g., subject to UL data presence at eachUE). Alternatively, the DCI may indicate that UEs having the particulartransmission attribute can initiate a future FFP/COT (e.g., subject toUL data presence at each UE).

In some embodiments, the transmission attribute may be a reference RSindex or RS ID. In an example, a first index of a reference/source RSfor determining quasi-co-location (“QCL”) ‘QCL-TypeD’ assumption, TCIstate, SRS Resource Indicator (“SRI”), and/or spatial relationinformation for UL transmission (e.g., CG-PUSCH) is indicated in agroup-common DCI (“GC-DCI”). The UEs which have a second reference RSindex which is the same as the first index for such determination cannot(or alternatively ‘can’) initiate a future FFP or COT.

In various embodiments, the reference RS may be 1) a synchronizationsignal (“SS”) and/or physical broadcast channel (“PBCH”) block of aserving cell, e.g., the serving cell indicated by higher layer parameterservingCellId if present, same serving cell as the target soundingreference signal (“SRS”) otherwise. Alternatively, the reference RS maybe 2) a channel state information (“CSI”) RS (“CSI-RS”) configured on aserving cell, e.g., the serving cell is indicated by higher layerparameter servingCellld if present, same serving cell as the target SRSotherwise. Alternatively, the reference RS may be 3) an SRS configuredon uplink BWP indicated by the higher layer parameter uplinkBWP, andserving cell indicated by the higher layer parameter servingCellId ifpresent, same serving cell as the target SRS otherwise. Alternatively,the reference RS may be 4) a DL positioning reference signals (“PRS”)configured on a serving cell. Alternatively, the reference RS may be 5)an SS/PBCH block or a DL PRS of a non-serving cell indicated by a higherlayer parameter.

The second reference resource ID for a UE can be determined based on theconfiguration of the spatial relation between the second reference RSand the target SRS, where the higher layer parameter spatialRelationInfoor spatialRelationInfoPos-r16, if configured, contains the ID of thesecond reference RS. In an implementation, the UEs having ULtransmissions leading to the same/similar receive beams can be indicatedto not initiate a COT in a future FFP.

In some embodiments, the transmission attribute may be a PriorityIndicator. For instance, a GC-DCI may indicate a first PriorityIndicator in a current FFP/CO. Additionally, one or more UEs may have asecond Priority Indicator, e.g., as part of a CG-PUSCH configuration(such as phy-PriorityIndex as part of ConfiguredGrantConfig) orindicated in CG-activation DCI.

In certain embodiments, those UEs having the second Priority Indicatorthe same as the first Priority Indictor value are permitted to initiatea future COT/FFP. For example, if the first and the second PriorityIndicator=“1” or ‘high,’ then a UE with high priority configured ULtransmission can initiate a future COT/FFP. Alternatively, those UEshaving the second Priority Indicator the same as the first PriorityIndictor value are not permitted to initiate a future COT/FFP.

In another embodiment, if the first Priority Indicator=‘0’/low, then allUEs can initiate a future COT/FFP irrespective of their data priority.Alternatively, if the first Priority Indicator=“0”/low, then only UEswith low priority configured UL transmission can initiate a futureCOT/FFP.

In one embodiment, different UEs may be configured with different FFP/COduration. In such embodiments, the DCI in a current FFP indicateswhether UEs configured with a first FFP/CO duration can initiate afuture (e.g., next) FFP/COT.

In a second implementation of the third embodiment, an indication in afirst FFP indicates to a first UE whether the first FFP is a Type-1 FFP(i.e., a gNB-acquired CO) or a Type-2 FFP (i.e., a UE-acquired CO, e.g.,CO acquired by another UE, such as a second UE which is different thanthe first UE). In one example, the indication indicates whether the next(i.e., subsequent) FFP is a Type-1 FFP or a Type-2 FFP. For example,when in semi-static channel access mode, a UE may operate as aninitiating device, the UE may determine based on DCI (or otherindication) whether a scheduled UL transmission is based on aUE-initiated COT or is a shared gNB-initiated COT.

Once the FFP type is determined based on the indication, thecommunication parameters, attributes, and/or procedures between thefirst UE and the gNB is determined based on the FFP type. In oneexample, the indication is a DCI. In another example, the indication isa broadcast signal, such as SIB, e.g., SIB1.

In one example, the UE is not allowed to use any CG transmission atleast for a time duration from the beginning of the FFP. In anotherexample, the UE is not allowed to use any CG transmission at least for atime duration after the reception of the indication. For instance, thetime duration may be the first ‘m’ slots (or subslots or symbols) of theFFP (or the first ‘m’ slots (or subslots or symbols) after the receptionof the indication). In an example, some communication operations are notpossible for a UE (at least for a duration of time) if the COT is a COTthat is acquired by another UE. For instance, UL communication may notbe possible at the first ‘T’ slots (or subslots or symbols) of an FFP.

In one example, the FFP/CO duration is determined based on the FFP type.For instance, a UE-initiated CO may have a smaller duration compared togNB acquired CO. In one example, the UE-initiated COT may be a fractionof the gNB-acquired COT, such as half duration. In one implementation,the fraction is indicated to the UE via higher layer signaling orphysical layer signaling.

In one example, a UE may be configured with a first FFP duration forUE-acquired (i.e., UE-initiated) COT operation, and a second FFPduration for gNB-acquired COT operation. The UE assumes the first FFPduration when the UE acquires COT and assumes a second FFP durationotherwise. In another example, the UE assumes the first FFP durationwhen the UE acquires COT and assumes a second FFP duration if it detectsDL signals from the gNB. In one implementation, the first FFP durationis smaller than the second FFP duration.

Having different FFP durations for a UE initiated/acquired COT and thegNB acquired COT can be useful in the case that UE is performingconfigured grant UL transmissions and the gNB is not able to detect theconfigured grant UL transmissions. Accordingly, in semi-static channelaccess mode an FFP duration for UE-initiated COT may be configured asthe same as the FFP duration for gNB-initiated COT, as an integermultiple of the FFP duration for gNB-initiated COT, or an inter-factorof the FFP duration for gNB-initiated COT. Alternatively, the FFPduration for UE-initiated COT may be configured independently from theFFP duration of gNB-initiated COT, if the UE indicates the correspondingcapability.

FIG. 11 depicts an example scenario 1100 where LBT is not required forsome gaps of an FFP 1101. Here, LBT is not required for a first gap 1105between a first UL transmission burst 1103 and a first DL transmissionburst 1107. However, LBT is required for the second gap 1109 between thefirst DL transmission burst 1107 and a second UL transmission burst1111, where the first gap 1105 and second gap 1109 have the sameduration. in one example, LBT category or LBT parameters are determinedbased on the FFP type.

In certain embodiments, for FFP Type-2, LBT Category 4 is required fortransmission gaps larger than ‘g’ microseconds between transmissionbursts. Here, the value of ‘g’ can be defined in specifications: e.g.,25 microseconds. In certain embodiments, for FFP Type-1, LBT Category 4is not required and only LBT Category 2 is required for transmissiongaps larger than 16 microseconds. Here, LBT Category 2 refers to LBTprocedure without random back-off, while LBT Category 4 refers to LBTprocedure with random back-off and with an exponential contentionwindow.

In an example, the gap between a DL transmission burst and an ULtransmission burst (for which LBT is required/not required) for the FFPType-2 can be different than that of FFP Type-1, at least in thebeginning of the FFP.

In the example scenario 1100, the LBT requirement on the gap 1105between the first UL transmission burst 1103 and the first DLtransmission burst 1107 for the UE initiating the COT may be differentthan the LBT requirement on other gaps between UL transmissions and DLtransmissions (e.g., due to location of PDCCH monitoringoccasions/collision between multiple UEs initiating a same COT). Forexample, for the UE initiating a COT, the gap duration between the firstUL transmission burst 1105 and the first DL transmission burst 1107 forwhich LBT is required is larger than the gap duration between subsequentUL/DL transmissions.

In one example, interpretation of some DCI fields of some DCI formats orsome parameters of a DCI may depend on the FFP type. For instance, asearch space periodicity of a GC-DCI that controls or providesinformation regarding which UEs can initiate a future COT can be once inan FFP. If FFP durations of the UE-initiated COT and gNB-acquired COTare different, then the search space periodicity wherein the GC-DCI ismonitored may be different.

In one example, the UE is indicated (e.g., indicated via DCI) whichslot(s) in a Type-2 FFP can be used for UL transmission. In anotherexample, the UE is indicated (e.g., indicated in a CG configuration orvia DCI activating a CG) whether the UE can acquire a COT for an uplink(“UL”) transmission associated with the CG.

In a third implementation of the third embodiment, the network indicatesvia RRC (or via activating DCI, activating one or more CG ULconfigurations), the CG configuration index (indices) wherein the UE can(or cannot) initiate COT. In one implementation, a field in each CGconfiguration indicates whether the UE can initiate COT in resourcesassociated with that configuration. In an example, within an FFP, thenetwork indicates (e.g., via DCI) to the UE, CG configuration indices/orresources wherein the UE can initiate COT or UE can indicate UE acquiredCOT information to the network, e.g., after the end of the FFP.

In a fourth implementation of the third embodiment, the UE is notexpected to initiate COT in one CG of more than ‘X’ active/configuredCGs, where ‘X’ is indicated by RRC, or is a UE capability.

In a fifth implementation of the third embodiment, the UE is notexpected to initiate COT in a CG of the set of CGs with periodicity ofless/more than ‘W’ symbols/slots (e.g., not too frequent CGs).

In a sixth implementation of the third embodiment, the UE can initiateCOT in a CG with the associated priority set to ‘high priority,’ andcannot initiate COT in a CG with the associated priority set to ‘lowpriority.’

Regarding the configuration and/or capability aspects (or attributes) ofUE-initiated channel occupancy, according to a fourth embodiment, the COduration for UE-initiated CO is determined from an indication such asRRC configuration or SIB signaling, and the CO duration is differentthan the CO duration of gNB-acquired CO (which can be indicated bydedicated RRC configuration). A UE may be enabled via RRC or SIBsignaling to initiate a COT under certain conditions (e.g., if the UEhas an UL transmission to send).

In an implementation of the fourth embodiment, the channel accesspriority class for channel access/sensing is determined based on one ormore of the priority of UL data and priority associated with theconfigured grant PUSCH, and priority associated with the CG-UCI.

In another implementation of the fourth embodiment, a UE indicates(e.g., via a capability signaling) the capability of whether the UE iscapable of doing UE-initiated COT, COT sharing between UL transmissionand DL transmission (e.g., when UE has initiated a COT), COT sharingbetween configured grant and scheduled UL transmission (e.g., the UE hasinitiated a COT using configured grant UL transmissions) and/or COTsharing between UL transmission of a first UE and DL and/or ULtransmission of another UE. The scheduled UL transmission can be on thesame carrier or a supplementary carrier.

Regarding UE-specific Fixed Frame Period (“FFP”), according to a fifthembodiment, a UE served by a cell deployed in unlicensed spectrum (i.e.,shared spectrum) receives a UE-specific parameter‘SemiStaticChannelAccessConfig-r17’ which defines a UE-specific FFP. Inone implementation, a network entity (e.g., the gNB) configures acell-specific parameter ‘SemiStaticChannelAccessConfig’ to be a multipleof the UE-specific parameter ‘Semi StaticChannel AccessConfig-r17’ sothat the UE can quickly access a channel even when a serving gNB doesnot share a COT.

In one implementation of the fifth embodiment, the gNB may configure theUE with the UE-specific parameter ‘SemiStaticChannel AccessConfig-r17’if a low-latency application is running on the UE, or upon receiving arequest from the UE. In one example, the UE receives the UE-specificparameter ‘SemiStaticChannelAccessConfig-r17’ in a high priorityconfigured grant (CG) PUSCH configuration or high priority CG activationDCI.

In another implementation of the fifth embodiment, the UE may receivemultiple UE-specific ‘SemiStaticChannelAccessConfig-r17’ parametervalues via RRC signaling and may further receive a MAC-CE to activateone value from the configured multiple values or receive an indicationof an activated value in CG activation DCI of Type-2 CG PUSCH.

In other implementations of the fifth embodiment, for a dynamic grantPUSCH transmission, the UE receives an indication to performUE-initiated COT and additionally a UE-specific FFP value in ascheduling DCI (i.e., a PDCCH scheduling the PUSCH). In one example, ahigh priority indication in the scheduling DCI implicitly indicates theenabling of UE-initiated COT, and the UE may further look for a DCIfield indicating the UE-specific FFP value in the scheduling DCI.

In certain embodiments, a UE expects that a PUSCH resource of a highpriority CG PUSCH configuration starts at the beginning of an FFP. Inone implementation, the UE may assume that a UE-specific FFP value issame as a PUSCH resource periodicity of the high priority CG PUSCHconfiguration.

FIG. 12 depicts a user equipment apparatus 1200 that may be used forselecting a fixed frame period operation for uplink transmission,according to embodiments of the disclosure. In various embodiments, theuser equipment apparatus 1200 is used to implement one or more of thesolutions described above. The user equipment apparatus 1200 may be oneembodiment of the remote unit 105, the first UE 201 and/or the second UE203, described above. Furthermore, the user equipment apparatus 1200 mayinclude a processor 1205, a memory 1210, an input device 1215, an outputdevice 1220, and a transceiver 1225.

In some embodiments, the input device 1215 and the output device 1220are combined into a single device, such as a touchscreen. In certainembodiments, the user equipment apparatus 1200 may not include any inputdevice 1215 and/or output device 1220. In various embodiments, the userequipment apparatus 1200 may include one or more of: the processor 1205,the memory 1210, and the transceiver 1225, and may not include the inputdevice 1215 and/or the output device 1220.

As depicted, the transceiver 1225 includes at least one transmitter 1230and at least one receiver 1235. In some embodiments, the transceiver1225 communicates with one or more cells (or wireless coverage areas)supported by one or more base units 121. In various embodiments, thetransceiver 1225 is operable on unlicensed spectrum. Moreover, thetransceiver 1225 may include multiple UE panels supporting one or morebeams. Additionally, the transceiver 1225 may support at least onenetwork interface 1240 and/or application interface 1245. Theapplication interface(s) 1245 may support one or more APIs. The networkinterface(s) 1240 may support 3GPP reference points, such as Uu, N1,PC5, etc. Other network interfaces 1240 may be supported, as understoodby one of ordinary skill in the art.

The processor 1205, in one embodiment, may include any known controllercapable of executing computer-readable instructions and/or capable ofperforming logical operations. For example, the processor 1205 may be amicrocontroller, a microprocessor, a central processing unit (“CPU”), agraphics processing unit (“GPU”), an auxiliary processing unit, a fieldprogrammable gate array (“FPGA”), or similar programmable controller. Insome embodiments, the processor 1205 executes instructions stored in thememory 1210 to perform the methods and routines described herein. Theprocessor 1205 is communicatively coupled to the memory 1210, the inputdevice 1215, the output device 1220, and the transceiver 1225.

In various embodiments, the processor 1205 controls the user equipmentapparatus 1200 to implement the above described UE behaviors. In certainembodiments, the processor 1205 may include an application processor(also known as “main processor”) which manages application-domain andoperating system (“OS”) functions and a baseband processor (also knownas “baseband radio processor”) which manages radio functions.

In various embodiments, the processor 1205 controls the transceiver 1225to receive a first configuration from a RAN node for a first FFPduration and receives a second configuration from the RAN node for asecond FFP duration, where the first FFP duration is different than thesecond FFP duration. The processor 1205 selects a FFP duration for an ULtransmission to be transmitted based on an entity acquiring a channeloccupancy and controls the transceiver 1225 to transmit the ULtransmission in the channel occupancy with the selected FFP duration,where the selected FFP duration is one of: the first FFP duration andthe second FFP duration.

In some embodiments, the first FFP duration is to be used when thechannel occupancy is acquired by the apparatus 1200 and the second FFPduration is to be used when the channel occupancy is acquired by the RANnode. In certain embodiments, the transceiver 1225 further receives anindication from the network indicating whether the channel occupancy isa RAN-acquired channel occupancy or the channel occupancy is aUE-acquired channel occupancy.

In some embodiments, the first FFP duration is a cell-specific parameterand the second FFP duration is a UE-specific parameter, where thecell-specific parameter is a multiple of the UE-specific parameter. Insome embodiments, the channel occupancy is determined to be acquired bythe RAN node if the processor 1205 detects DL signals from the RAN node.

In some embodiments, the transceiver 1225 further receives aconfiguration message from the network configuring parameters for uplinktransmissions without dynamic grant in first set of resources. In suchembodiments, transmitting the UL transmission in the channel occupancyincludes transmitting the UL transmission in a resource of the first setof resources in the channel occupancy.

In certain embodiments, the configuration message includes an indicationand the processor 1205 determines whether to acquire a channel occupancybased on the indication. In such embodiments, the processor 1205acquires a channel occupancy by transmitting the UL transmission in theresource of the first set of resources in response to determining toinitiate the channel occupancy. In certain embodiments, the indicationincludes a physical layer indication sent in a PDCCH transmission. Inone embodiment, the PDCCH is a group common PDCCH sent to a group ofUEs.

In certain embodiments, the processor 1205 determines channel accessparameters of the UL transmission within the channel occupancy based onthe indication. In certain embodiments, the indication indicates apriority from physical layer perspective for configured uplinktransmissions in the first set of resources. In such embodiments,determining whether to initiate a channel occupancy based on theindication further includes determining to initiate a channel occupancywhen the indicator indicates a high priority. In certain embodiments,the indication indicates whether the apparatus 1200 is permitted toinitiate a channel occupancy for configured uplink transmissions in aresource of the first set of resources.

In some embodiments, the resource of the first set of resources occursat the beginning of a fixed frame period. In other embodiments, theresource of the first set of resources is not more than a threshold timefrom the beginning of a fixed frame period. In some embodiments,transmitting the UL transmission includes extending a cyclic prefix forthe UL transmission in the resource of first set of resources. In suchembodiments, extending the cyclic prefix shortens a time gap between thestart of the UL transmission in the resource of the first set ofresources and the beginning of the fixed frame period to less than athreshold time.

In some embodiments, transmitting the UL transmission includestransmitting a high priority UL transmission in the resource of thefirst set of resources and transmitting a lower priority UL transmissionbetween a start of the channel occupancy and the resource of the firstset of resources. In such embodiments, a time gap between an end of thelower priority UL transmission and a start of the high priority ULtransmission is smaller than a threshold time.

In some embodiments, transmitting the UL transmission includes onlytransmitting data having a threshold priority or higher using configuredresources of the channel occupancy. In certain embodiments, transmittingusing the configured resources includes not transmitting within acertain time duration from the beginning of the channel occupancy. Incertain embodiments, the configured resources are not within a certaintime from the reception time of the indication. In some embodiments, theapparatus 1200 and the RAN node operate in shared spectrum, where theapparatus 1200 is configured with semi-static channel access mode.

The memory 1210, in one embodiment, is a computer readable storagemedium. In some embodiments, the memory 1210 includes volatile computerstorage media. For example, the memory 1210 may include a RAM, includingdynamic RAM (“DRAM”), synchronous dynamic RAM (“SDRAM”), and/or staticRAM (“SRAM”). In some embodiments, the memory 1210 includes non-volatilecomputer storage media. For example, the memory 1210 may include a harddisk drive, a flash memory, or any other suitable non-volatile computerstorage device. In some embodiments, the memory 1210 includes bothvolatile and non-volatile computer storage media.

In some embodiments, the memory 1210 stores data related to selecting afixed frame period operation for uplink transmission. For example, thememory 1210 may store various parameters, configurations, policies, andthe like as described above. In certain embodiments, the memory 1210also stores program code and related data, such as an operating systemor other controller algorithms operating on the apparatus 1200.

The input device 1215, in one embodiment, may include any known computerinput device including a touch panel, a button, a keyboard, a stylus, amicrophone, or the like. In some embodiments, the input device 1215 maybe integrated with the output device 1220, for example, as a touchscreenor similar touch-sensitive display. In some embodiments, the inputdevice 1215 includes a touchscreen such that text may be input using avirtual keyboard displayed on the touchscreen and/or by handwriting onthe touchscreen. In some embodiments, the input device 1215 includes twoor more different devices, such as a keyboard and a touch panel.

The output device 1220, in one embodiment, is designed to output visual,audible, and/or haptic signals. In some embodiments, the output device1220 includes an electronically controllable display or display devicecapable of outputting visual data to a user. For example, the outputdevice 1220 may include, but is not limited to, a liquid crystal display(“LCD”), an LED display, an organic light-emitting diode (“OLED”)display, a projector, or similar display device capable of outputtingimages, text, or the like to a user. As another, non-limiting, example,the output device 1220 may include a wearable display separate from, butcommunicatively coupled to, the rest of the user equipment apparatus1200, such as a smart watch, smart glasses, a heads-up display, or thelike. Further, the output device 1220 may be a component of a smartphone, a personal digital assistant, a television, a table computer, anotebook (laptop) computer, a personal computer, a vehicle dashboard, orthe like.

In certain embodiments, the output device 1220 includes one or morespeakers for producing sound. For example, the output device 1220 mayproduce an audible alert or notification (e.g., a beep or chime). Insome embodiments, the output device 1220 includes one or more hapticdevices for producing vibrations, motion, or other haptic feedback. Insome embodiments, all or portions of the output device 1220 may beintegrated with the input device 1215. For example, the input device1215 and output device 1220 may form a touchscreen or similartouch-sensitive display. In other embodiments, the output device 1220may be located near the input device 1215.

The transceiver 1225 communicates with one or more network functions ofa mobile communication network via one or more access networks. Thetransceiver 1225 operates under the control of the processor 1205 totransmit messages, data, and other signals and also to receive messages,data, and other signals. For example, the processor 1205 may selectivelyactivate the transceiver 1225 (or portions thereof) at particular timesin order to send and receive messages.

The transceiver 1225 includes at least transmitter 1230 and at least onereceiver 1235. One or more transmitters 1230 may be used to provide ULcommunication signals to a base unit 121, such as the UL transmissionsdescribed herein. Similarly, one or more receivers 1235 may be used toreceive DL communication signals from the base unit 121, as describedherein. Although only one transmitter 1230 and one receiver 1235 areillustrated, the user equipment apparatus 1200 may have any suitablenumber of transmitters 1230 and receivers 1235. Further, thetransmitter(s) 1230 and the receiver(s) 1235 may be any suitable type oftransmitters and receivers.

In one embodiment, the transceiver 1225 includes a firsttransmitter/receiver pair used to communicate with a mobilecommunication network over licensed radio spectrum and a secondtransmitter/receiver pair used to communicate with a mobilecommunication network over unlicensed radio spectrum. In certainembodiments, the first transmitter/receiver pair used to communicatewith a mobile communication network over licensed radio spectrum and thesecond transmitter/receiver pair used to communicate with a mobilecommunication network over unlicensed radio spectrum may be combinedinto a single transceiver unit, for example a single chip performingfunctions for use with both licensed and unlicensed radio spectrum. Insome embodiments, the first transmitter/receiver pair and the secondtransmitter/receiver pair may share one or more hardware components. Forexample, certain transceivers 1225, transmitters 1230, and receivers1235 may be implemented as physically separate components that access ashared hardware resource and/or software resource, such as for example,the network interface 1240.

In various embodiments, one or more transmitters 1230 and/or one or morereceivers 1235 may be implemented and/or integrated into a singlehardware component, such as a multi-transceiver chip, asystem-on-a-chip, an application-specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”),or other type of hardware component. In certain embodiments, one or moretransmitters 1230 and/or one or more receivers 1235 may be implementedand/or integrated into a multi-chip module. In some embodiments, othercomponents such as the network interface 1240 or other hardwarecomponents/circuits may be integrated with any number of transmitters1230 and/or receivers 1235 into a single chip. In such embodiment, thetransmitters 1230 and receivers 1235 may be logically configured as atransceiver 1225 that uses one more common control signals or as modulartransmitters 1230 and receivers 1235 implemented in the same hardwarechip or in a multi-chip module.

FIG. 13 depicts a network apparatus 1300 that may be used for selectinga fixed frame period operation for uplink transmission, according toembodiments of the disclosure. The network apparatus 1300 may be oneembodiment of the base unit 121 or RAN node, described above.Furthermore, the base network apparatus 1300 may include a processor1305, a memory 1310, an input device 1315, an output device 1320, and atransceiver 1325.

In some embodiments, the input device 1315 and the output device 1320are combined into a single device, such as a touchscreen. In certainembodiments, the network apparatus 1300 may not include any input device1315 and/or output device 1320. In various embodiments, the networkapparatus 1300 may include one or more of: the processor 1305, thememory 1310, and the transceiver 1325, and may not include the inputdevice 1315 and/or the output device 1320.

As depicted, the transceiver 1325 includes at least one transmitter 1330and at least one receiver 1335. Here, the transceiver 1325 communicateswith one or more remote units 105. Additionally, the transceiver 1325may support at least one network interface 1340 and/or applicationinterface 1345. The application interface(s) 1345 may support one ormore APIs. The network interface(s) 1340 may support 3GPP referencepoints, such as Uu, N1, N2 and N3. Other network interfaces 1340 may besupported, as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.

The processor 1305, in one embodiment, may include any known controllercapable of executing computer-readable instructions and/or capable ofperforming logical operations. For example, the processor 1305 may be amicrocontroller, a microprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliary processingunit, a FPGA, or similar programmable controller. In some embodiments,the processor 1305 executes instructions stored in the memory 1310 toperform the methods and routines described herein. The processor 1305 iscommunicatively coupled to the memory 1310, the input device 1315, theoutput device 1320, and the transceiver 1325.

In various embodiments, the network apparatus 1300 is a RAN node (e.g.,gNB) that communicates with one or more UEs, as described herein. Insuch embodiments, the processor 1305 controls the network apparatus 1300to perform the above described RAN behaviors. When operating as a RANnode, the processor 1305 may include an application processor (alsoknown as “main processor”) which manages application-domain andoperating system (“OS”) functions and a baseband processor (also knownas “baseband radio processor”) which manages radio functions.

In various embodiments, the processor 1305 controls the transceiver 1325to transmit a first configuration to a UE device for a first FFPduration and transmits a second configuration to the UE device for asecond FFP duration, where the first FFP duration is different than thesecond FFP duration. The processor 1305 selects a certain FFP durationbased on an entity acquiring the channel occupancy, where the selectedFFP duration is one of: the first FFP duration and the second FFPduration. Via the transceiver 1325, the processor 1305 receives a ULtransmission in a channel occupancy with the certain FFP duration.

In some embodiments, the first FFP duration is used when the channeloccupancy is acquired by the UE device and the second FFP duration isused when the channel occupancy is acquired by the apparatus 1300. Incertain embodiments, the processor 1305 controls the transceiver 1325 tofurther send an indication to the UE device indicating whether thechannel occupancy is to be a RAN-acquired channel occupancy or thechannel occupancy is to be a UE-acquired channel occupancy. In someembodiments, the first FFP duration is a cell-specific parameter and thesecond FFP duration is a UE-specific parameter, where the cell-specificparameter is a multiple of the UE-specific parameter.

In some embodiments, the processor 1305 controls the transceiver 1325 tofurther send a configuration message to the UE device configuringparameters for uplink transmissions without dynamic grant in first setof resources. In such embodiments, receiving the UL transmission in thechannel occupancy includes receiving the UL transmission in a resourceof the first set of resources in the channel occupancy. In certainembodiments, the configuration message includes an indication of whetherthe UE device is permitted to acquire a channel occupancy based on theindication. In such embodiments, the UE device acquires the channeloccupancy by transmitting the UL transmission in the resource of thefirst set of resources in response to the indication.

In certain embodiments, the indication includes a physical layerindication sent in a PDCCH transmission. In one embodiment, the PDCCH isa group common PDCCH sent to a group of UEs. In certain embodiments, theindication indicates a priority from physical layer perspective forconfigured uplink transmissions in the first set of resources. In suchembodiments, a high priority indicates that the UE is to initiate thechannel occupancy. In certain embodiments, the indication indicateswhether the UE is permitted to initiate a channel occupancy forconfigured uplink transmissions in a resource of the first set ofresources.

In certain embodiments, the resource of the first set of resourcesoccurs at the beginning of a fixed frame period. In other embodiments,the resource of the first set of resources is not more than a thresholdtime from the beginning of a fixed frame period. In certain embodiments,the receiving the UL transmission includes receiving an extended cyclicprefix for the UL transmission in the resource of first set ofresources. In such embodiments, the extended cyclic prefix shortens atime gap between the start of the UL transmission in the resource of thefirst set of resources and the beginning of the fixed frame period toless than a threshold time.

In certain embodiments, receiving the UL transmission includes receivinga high priority UL transmission in the resource of the first set ofresources and receiving a lower priority UL transmission between a startof the channel occupancy and the resource of the first set of resources.In such embodiments, a time gap between an end of the lower priority ULtransmission and a start of the high priority UL transmission is smallerthan a threshold time.

In some embodiments, receiving the UL transmission includes receivingdata having a threshold priority or higher using configured resources ofthe channel occupancy. In some embodiments, the apparatus 1300 and UEdevice operate in shared spectrum, and the UE device is configured withsemi-static channel access mode.

The memory 1310, in one embodiment, is a computer readable storagemedium. In some embodiments, the memory 1310 includes volatile computerstorage media. For example, the memory 1310 may include a RAM, includingdynamic RAM (“DRAM”), synchronous dynamic RAM (“SDRAM”), and/or staticRAM (“SRAM”). In some embodiments, the memory 1310 includes non-volatilecomputer storage media. For example, the memory 1310 may include a harddisk drive, a flash memory, or any other suitable non-volatile computerstorage device. In some embodiments, the memory 1310 includes bothvolatile and non-volatile computer storage media.

In some embodiments, the memory 1310 stores data related to selecting afixed frame period operation for uplink transmission. For example, thememory 1310 may store various parameters, configurations, policies, andthe like as described above. In certain embodiments, the memory 1310also stores program code and related data, such as an operating systemor other controller algorithms operating on the network apparatus 1300.

The input device 1315, in one embodiment, may include any known computerinput device including a touch panel, a button, a keyboard, a stylus, amicrophone, or the like. In some embodiments, the input device 1315 maybe integrated with the output device 1320, for example, as a touchscreenor similar touch-sensitive display. In some embodiments, the inputdevice 1315 includes a touchscreen such that text may be input using avirtual keyboard displayed on the touchscreen and/or by handwriting onthe touchscreen. In some embodiments, the input device 1315 includes twoor more different devices, such as a keyboard and a touch panel.

The output device 1320, in one embodiment, is designed to output visual,audible, and/or haptic signals. In some embodiments, the output device1320 includes an electronically controllable display or display devicecapable of outputting visual data to a user. For example, the outputdevice 1320 may include, but is not limited to, an LCD display, an LEDdisplay, an OLED display, a projector, or similar display device capableof outputting images, text, or the like to a user. As another,non-limiting, example, the output device 1320 may include a wearabledisplay separate from, but communicatively coupled to, the rest of thenetwork apparatus 1300, such as a smart watch, smart glasses, a heads-updisplay, or the like. Further, the output device 1320 may be a componentof a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a television, a tablecomputer, a notebook (laptop) computer, a personal computer, a vehicledashboard, or the like.

In certain embodiments, the output device 1320 includes one or morespeakers for producing sound. For example, the output device 1320 mayproduce an audible alert or notification (e.g., a beep or chime). Insome embodiments, the output device 1320 includes one or more hapticdevices for producing vibrations, motion, or other haptic feedback. Insome embodiments, all or portions of the output device 1320 may beintegrated with the input device 1315. For example, the input device1315 and output device 1320 may form a touchscreen or similartouch-sensitive display. In other embodiments, the output device 1320may be located near the input device 1315.

The transceiver 1325 includes at least transmitter 1330 and at least onereceiver 1335. One or more transmitters 1330 may be used to communicatewith the UE, as described herein. Similarly, one or more receivers 1335may be used to communicate with network functions in the PLMN and/orRAN, as described herein. Although only one transmitter 1330 and onereceiver 1335 are illustrated, the network apparatus 1300 may have anysuitable number of transmitters 1330 and receivers 1335. Further, thetransmitter(s) 1325 and the receiver(s) 1330 may be any suitable type oftransmitters and receivers.

FIG. 14 depicts one embodiment of a method 1400 for selecting a fixedframe period operation for uplink transmission, according to embodimentsof the disclosure. In various embodiments, the method 1400 is performedby a UE, such as the remote unit 105 and/or the user equipment apparatus1200, described above. In some embodiments, the method 1400 is performedby a processor, such as a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a CPU, aGPU, an auxiliary processing unit, a FPGA, or the like.

The method 1400 includes starting 1405 to transmit a first uplinktransmission with a first duration in a beginning of a channel occupancyperiod. In some embodiments, the method 1400 includes determining 1410to terminate the first uplink transmission earlier than an end of thefirst duration based on: repetitions associated with the first uplinktransmission; or a duration of overlapping configured grant resources.The first uplink transmission can be sent in any of the overlappingconfigured grant resources, and each of the overlapping configured grantresources is associated with a different configured grant configurationthan a configured grant configuration associated with anotheroverlapping configured grant resource. In certain embodiments, themethod 1400 includes terminating 1415 the first uplink transmissionearlier than the end of the first duration in response to determining toterminate the first uplink transmission earlier than the end of thefirst duration. The method 1400 ends.

In certain embodiments, a number of repetitions associated with thefirst uplink transmission is K1, the first uplink transmission isterminated at the end of repetition K, where K < Kl.

In some embodiments, the value of K is determined based on a repetitionduration and a parameter indicating a maximum transmission duration foruplink transmissions in the beginning of the channel occupancy period(or FFP). In various embodiments, K is a largest repetition number forwhich a duration of the K repetitions (i.e., from the beginning of thefirst UL transmission until the end of the Kth repetition) is less thanthe indicated maximum transmission duration. In one embodiment, therepetitions are nominal repetitions.

In certain embodiments, a first configured grant resource of a firstconfigured grant configuration overlaps with a second configured grantresource of a second configured grant configuration, and the firstuplink transmission is sent in the first configured grant resource ifthe first configured grant resource ends earlier than the secondconfigured grant resource. In some embodiments, the first configuredgrant configuration and the second configured grant configuration havethe same priority. In various embodiments, the first uplink transmissioncorresponds to transmission of a transport block.

In one embodiment, the transport block is a new transport block or apreviously transmitted transport block after a retransmission timer hasexpired. In certain embodiments, the transport block is mapped to afirst hybrid automatic repeat request process associated with the firstconfigured grant configuration. In some embodiments, the firstconfigured grant configuration and the second configured grantconfiguration have a same configuration parameter value.

In various embodiments, the configuration parameter comprises: ademodulation reference signal configuration; a power control parameter;a modulation and coding scheme and a transport block size; a pathlossreference; a priority; a redundancy sequence; a redundancy start index(e.g., parameter startingFromRV0); or some combination thereof. In oneembodiment, the method 1400 further comprises: transmitting a firstuplink transmission in a first configured grant resource of a firstconfigured grant configuration with a first transmission power in thebeginning of the channel occupancy period (i.e., beginning of FFP); andtransmitting a second uplink transmission in a second configured grantresource of the first configured grant configuration with a secondtransmission power in the channel occupancy period, wherein the firsttransmission power and the second transmission power are different. Incertain embodiments, the first transmission power is larger than thesecond transmission power.

In some embodiments, the second transmission power is determined basedon the first configured grant configuration, and the first transmissionpower is determined based on the second transmission power. In variousembodiments, the first configured grant configuration is associated witha high priority. In one embodiment, the method 1400 further comprisestransmitting a third uplink transmission in a third configured grantresource of the first configured grant configuration with the firsttransmission power in the channel occupancy period if the thirdconfigured grant resource is within a predetermined time from thebeginning of the channel occupancy period.

FIG. 15 depicts one embodiment of a method 1500 for uplink transmissionusing selective fixed frame period operation. In various embodiments,the method 1500 is performed by a user equipment device in a mobilecommunication network, such as the remote unit 105, the first UE 201,the second UE 203, and/or the user equipment apparatus 1200, describedabove. In some embodiments, the method 1500 is performed by a processor,such as a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliaryprocessing unit, a FPGA, or the like.

The method 1500 begins and receives 1505 a first configuration from aRAN node for a first FFP duration. The method 1500 includes receiving1510 a second configuration from the RAN node for a second FFP duration,where the first FFP duration is different than the second FFP duration.The method 1500 includes selecting 1515 a FFP duration for an ULtransmission to be transmitted based on an entity acquiring a channeloccupancy. The method 1500 includes transmitting 1520 the ULtransmission in a channel occupancy with the selected FFP duration,where the selected FFP duration is one of: the first FFP duration (e.g.,when the channel occupancy is acquired/initiated by a UE) and the secondFFP duration (e.g., when the channel occupancy is acquired/initiated bythe RAN node). The method 1500 ends.

In various embodiments, the method 1500 may include receiving anindication from the network that indicates whether the channel occupancyis a gNB acquired channel occupancy or the channel occupancy is a UEacquired channel occupancy. Such indication may be in DCI or in abroadcast signal, such as SIB (e.g., SIB1).

In some embodiments, the first FFP duration is a cell-specific parameterand the second FFP duration is a UE-specific parameter, and thecell-specific parameter is a multiple of the UE-specific parameter. Insome embodiments, the channel occupancy is determined acquired/initiatedby the gNB if the UE detects DL signals form the RAN node.

In various embodiments, the method 1500 may further include receiving aconfiguration message from the network configuring parameters for uplinktransmissions without dynamic grant in first set of resources. In suchembodiments, transmitting the UL transmission in the channel occupancymay include transmitting the UL transmission in the resource of thefirst set of resources in the channel occupancy.

According to the above embodiment, the configuration message may includeincludes an indication, where the UE device determines whether toinitiate a channel occupancy based on the indication. In response todetermining to initiate a channel occupancy, the UE device may initiatea channel occupancy by transmitting the UL transmission in the resourceof the first set of resources.

In certain embodiments, the indication may be a physical layerindication sent in a PDCCH. In certain embodiments, UL transmissions oflow priority are determined to not be transmitted in configuredresources of the channel occupancy. In certain embodiments, ULtransmissions are determined to not be transmitted within a certain timeduration from the beginning of the channel occupancy or from thereception time of the indication.

In some embodiments, the UE device determines channel access parametersof the communication within the channel occupancy based on theindication. In certain embodiments, the PDCCH is a group common PDCCHsent to a group of UEs. In certain embodiments, the indication indicatesa priority from physical layer perspective for configured uplinktransmissions in the first set of resources. In such embodiments,determining whether to initiate a channel occupancy based on theindication may further include determining to initiate a channeloccupancy if the indicator indicates a high priority. According to theabove embodiments, the indication indicates whether the UE can initiatea channel occupancy for configured uplink transmissions in a resource ofthe first set of resources.

In some embodiments, the UE operates in shared spectrum, and the UE isconfigured with semi-static channel access mode. In one embodiment, theresource of the first set of resources occurs at the beginning of afixed frame period. In another embodiment, the resource of the first setof resources occurs at most certain time from the beginning of a fixedframe period.

In certain embodiments, the UE may extend a cyclic prefix for the ULtransmission in the resource of the first set of resources such that thetime gap between the start of the UL transmission in the resource of thefirst set of resources and the beginning of the fixed frame period issmaller than a threshold. In certain embodiments, the UL transmission inthe resource of the first set of resource is a first UL transmission,and wherein the UE transmits a second UL transmission from the beginningof the fixed frame period wherein the time gap between the time that thesecond UL transmission is terminated, and the start of the first ULtransmission is smaller than a threshold.

FIG. 16 depicts one embodiment of a method 1600 for selecting a fixedframe period operation for uplink transmission, according to embodimentsof the disclosure. In various embodiments, the method 1600 is performedby a RAN device in a mobile communication network, such as the base unit121, the gNB 301 and/or the network apparatus 1300, described above. Insome embodiments, the method 1600 is performed by a processor, such as amicrocontroller, a microprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliary processingunit, a FPGA, or the like.

The method 1600 begins and transmits 1605 a first configuration to a UEdevice for a first FFP duration. The method 1600 includes transmitting1610 a second configuration to the UE device for a second FFP duration,where the first FFP duration is different than the second FFP duration.The method 1600 includes selecting 1615 a FFP duration based on entityacquiring the channel occupancy. The method 1600 includes receiving 1620an UL transmission in a channel occupancy with the selected FFPduration, where the selected FFP duration is one of: the first FFPduration and the second FFP duration. The method 1600 ends.

Disclosed herein is a first apparatus selecting a fixed frame periodoperation for uplink transmission, according to embodiments of thedisclosure. The first apparatus may be implemented by a user equipmentdevice in a mobile communication network, such as the remote unit 105,the first UE 201, second UE 203, and/or the user equipment apparatus1200, described above. The first apparatus includes a processor and atransceiver that receives a first configuration from a RAN node for afirst FFP duration and receives a second configuration from the RAN nodefor a second FFP duration, where the first FFP duration is differentthan the second FFP duration. The processor selects a FFP duration foran UL transmission to be transmitted based on an entity acquiring achannel occupancy and controls the transceiver to transmit the ULtransmission in the channel occupancy with the selected FFP duration,where the selected FFP duration is one of: the first FFP duration andthe second FFP duration.

In some embodiments, the first FFP duration is to be used when thechannel occupancy is acquired by the first apparatus and the second FFPduration is to be used when the channel occupancy is acquired by the RANnode. In certain embodiments, the transceiver further receives anindication from the network indicating whether the channel occupancy isa RAN-acquired channel occupancy or the channel occupancy is aUE-acquired channel occupancy.

In some embodiments, the first FFP duration is a cell-specific parameterand the second FFP duration is a UE-specific parameter, where thecell-specific parameter is a multiple of the UE-specific parameter. Insome embodiments, the channel occupancy is determined acquired by theRAN node if the processor detects DL signals from the RAN node.

In some embodiments, the transceiver further receives a configurationmessage from the network configuring parameters for uplink transmissionswithout dynamic grant in first set of resources. In such embodiments,transmitting the UL transmission in the channel occupancy includestransmitting the UL transmission in a resource of the first set ofresources in the channel occupancy.

In certain embodiments, the configuration message includes anindication, and the processor determines whether to acquire a channeloccupancy based on the indication. In such embodiments, the firstapparatus acquires a channel occupancy by transmitting the ULtransmission in the resource of the first set of resources in responseto determining to initiate the channel occupancy. In certainembodiments, the indication includes a physical layer indication sent ina PDCCH transmission. In one embodiment, the PDCCH is a group commonPDCCH sent to a group of UE devices.

In certain embodiments, the processor determines channel accessparameters of the UL transmission within the channel occupancy based onthe indication. In certain embodiments, the indication indicates apriority from physical layer perspective for configured uplinktransmissions in the first set of resources. In such embodiments,determining whether to initiate a channel occupancy based on theindication further includes determining to initiate a channel occupancywhen the indicator indicates a high priority. In certain embodiments,the indication indicates whether the first apparatus is permitted toinitiate a channel occupancy for configured uplink transmissions in aresource of the first set of resources.

In some embodiments, the resource of the first set of resources occursat the beginning of a fixed frame period. In other embodiments, theresource of the first set of resources is not more than a threshold timefrom the beginning of a fixed frame period. In some embodiments,transmitting the UL transmission includes extending a cyclic prefix forthe UL transmission in the resource of first set of resources. In suchembodiments, extending the cyclic prefix shortens a time gap between thestart of the UL transmission in the resource of the first set ofresources and the beginning of the fixed frame period to less than athreshold time.

In some embodiments, transmitting the UL transmission includestransmitting a high priority UL transmission in the resource of thefirst set of resources and transmitting a lower priority UL transmissionbetween a start of the channel occupancy and the resource of the firstset of resources. In such embodiments, a time gap between an end of thelower priority UL transmission and a start of the high priority ULtransmission is smaller than a threshold time.

In some embodiments, transmitting the UL transmission includes onlytransmitting data having a threshold priority or higher using configuredresources of the channel occupancy. In certain embodiments, transmittingusing the configured resources includes not transmitting within acertain time duration from the beginning of the channel occupancy. Incertain embodiments, the configured resources are not within a certaintime from the reception time of the indication. In some embodiments, thefirst apparatus and RAN node operate in shared spectrum, where the firstapparatus is configured with semi-static channel access mode.

Disclosed herein is a first method for selecting a fixed frame periodoperation for uplink transmission, according to embodiments of thedisclosure. The first method may be performed by a user equipment devicein a mobile communication network, such as the remote unit 105, thefirst UE 201, second UE 203, and/or the user equipment apparatus 1200,described above. The first method includes receiving a firstconfiguration from a RAN node for a first FFP duration and receiving asecond configuration from the RAN node for a second FFP duration, wherethe first FFP duration is different than the second FFP duration. Thefirst method includes selecting a FFP duration for an UL transmission tobe transmitted based on an entity acquiring a channel occupancy andtransmitting the UL transmission in a channel occupancy with theselected FFP duration, where the selected FFP duration is one of: thefirst FFP duration and the second FFP duration.

In some embodiments, the first FFP duration is to be used when thechannel occupancy is acquired by the UE device and the second FFPduration is to be used when the channel occupancy is acquired by the RANnode. In certain embodiments, the first method includes receiving anindication from the network indicating whether the channel occupancy isa RAN-acquired channel occupancy or the channel occupancy is aUE-acquired channel occupancy.

In some embodiments, the first FFP duration is a cell-specific parameterand the second FFP duration is a UE-specific parameter, where thecell-specific parameter is a multiple of the UE-specific parameter. Insome embodiments, the channel occupancy is determined acquired by theRAN node if the UE detects DL signals from the RAN node.

In some embodiments, the first method includes receiving a configurationmessage from the network configuring parameters for uplink transmissionswithout dynamic grant in first set of resources. In such embodiments,transmitting the UL transmission in the channel occupancy includestransmitting the UL transmission in a resource of the first set ofresources in the channel occupancy.

In certain embodiments, the first method includes determining whether toacquire a channel occupancy based on an indication included in theconfiguration message. In such embodiments, the first method furtherincludes acquiring a channel occupancy by transmitting the ULtransmission in the resource of the first set of resources in responseto determining to initiate the channel occupancy. In certainembodiments, the indication includes a physical layer indication sent ina PDCCH transmission. In one embodiment, the PDCCH is a group commonPDCCH sent to a group of UEs.

In certain embodiments, the first method includes determining channelaccess parameters of the UL transmission within the channel occupancybased on the indication. In certain embodiments, the indicationindicates a priority from physical layer perspective for configureduplink transmissions in the first set of resources. In such embodiments,determining whether to initiate a channel occupancy based on theindication further includes determining to initiate a channel occupancywhen the indicator indicates a high priority. In certain embodiments,the indication indicates whether the UE is permitted to initiate achannel occupancy for configured uplink transmissions in a resource ofthe first set of resources.

In some embodiments, the resource of the first set of resources occursat the beginning of a fixed frame period. In other embodiments, theresource of the first set of resources is not more than a threshold timefrom the beginning of a fixed frame period. In some embodiments,transmitting the UL transmission includes extending a cyclic prefix forthe UL transmission in the resource of first set of resources. In suchembodiments, extending the cyclic prefix shortens a time gap between thestart of the UL transmission in the resource of the first set ofresources and the beginning of the fixed frame period to less than athreshold time.

In some embodiments, transmitting the UL transmission includestransmitting a high priority UL transmission in the resource of thefirst set of resources and transmitting a lower priority UL transmissionbetween a start of the channel occupancy and the resource of the firstset of resources. In such embodiments, a time gap between an end of thelower priority UL transmission and a start of the high priority ULtransmission is smaller than a threshold time.

In some embodiments, transmitting the UL transmission includes onlytransmitting data having a threshold priority or higher using configuredresources of the channel occupancy. In certain embodiments, transmittingusing the configured resources includes not transmitting within acertain time duration from the beginning of the channel occupancy. Incertain embodiments, the configured resources are not within a certaintime from the reception time of the indication. In some embodiments, theUE and RAN node operate in shared spectrum, where the UE is configuredwith semi-static channel access mode.

Disclosed herein is a second apparatus for selecting a fixed frameperiod operation for uplink transmission, according to embodiments ofthe disclosure. The second apparatus may be implemented by a RAN devicein a mobile communication network, such as the base unit 121, the gNB301 and/or the network apparatus 1300, described above. The secondapparatus includes a processor and a transceiver that transmits a firstconfiguration to a UE device for a first FFP duration and transmits asecond configuration to the UE device for a second FFP duration, wherethe first FFP duration is different than the second FFP duration. Theprocessor selects a certain FFP duration based on an entity acquiringthe channel occupancy, where the selected FFP duration is one of: thefirst FFP duration and the second FFP duration. Via the transceiver, theprocessor receives a UL transmission in a channel occupancy with thecertain FFP duration.

In some embodiments, the first FFP duration is used when the channeloccupancy is acquired by the UE device and the second FFP duration isused when the channel occupancy is acquired by the second apparatus. Incertain embodiments, the processor controls the transceiver to furthersend an indication to the UE device indicating whether the channeloccupancy is to be a RAN-acquired channel occupancy or the channeloccupancy is to be a UE-acquired channel occupancy. In some embodiments,the first FFP duration is a cell-specific parameter and the second FFPduration is a UE-specific parameter, where the cell-specific parameteris a multiple of the UE-specific parameter.

In some embodiments, the processor controls the transceiver to furthersend a configuration message to the UE device configuring parameters foruplink transmissions without dynamic grant in first set of resources. Insuch embodiments, receiving the UL transmission in the channel occupancyincludes receiving the UL transmission in a resource of the first set ofresources in the channel occupancy. In certain embodiments, theconfiguration message includes an indication of whether the UE device ispermitted to acquire a channel occupancy based on the indication. Insuch embodiments, the UE device acquires the channel occupancy bytransmitting the UL transmission in the resource of the first set ofresources in response to the indication.

In certain embodiments, the indication includes a physical layerindication sent in a PDCCH transmission. In one embodiment, the PDCCH isa group common PDCCH sent to a group of UE devices. In certainembodiments, the indication indicates a priority from physical layerperspective for configured uplink transmissions in the first set ofresources. In such embodiments, a high priority indicates that the UEdevice is to initiate the channel occupancy. In certain embodiments, theindication indicates whether the UE device is permitted to initiate achannel occupancy for configured uplink transmissions in a resource ofthe first set of resources.

In certain embodiments, the resource of the first set of resourcesoccurs at the beginning of a fixed frame period. In other embodiments,the resource of the first set of resources is not more than a thresholdtime from the beginning of a fixed frame period. In certain embodiments,the receiving the UL transmission includes receiving an extended cyclicprefix for the UL transmission in the resource of first set ofresources. In such embodiments, the extended cyclic prefix shortens atime gap between the start of the UL transmission in the resource of thefirst set of resources and the beginning of the fixed frame period toless than a threshold time.

In certain embodiments, receiving the UL transmission includes receivinga high priority UL transmission in the resource of the first set ofresources and receiving a lower priority UL transmission between a startof the channel occupancy and the resource of the first set of resources.In such embodiments, a time gap between an end of the lower priority ULtransmission and a start of the high priority UL transmission is smallerthan a threshold time.

In some embodiments, receiving the UL transmission includes receivingdata having a threshold priority or higher using configured resources ofthe channel occupancy. In some embodiments, the second apparatus and UEdevice operate in shared spectrum, and the UE device is configured withsemi-static channel access mode.

Disclosed herein is a second method for selecting a fixed frame periodoperation for uplink transmission, according to embodiments of thedisclosure. The second method may be performed by a RAN device in amobile communication network, such as the base unit 121, the gNB 301and/or the network apparatus 1300, described above. The second methodincludes transmitting a first configuration to a UE device for a firstFFP duration and transmitting a second configuration to the UE devicefor a second FFP duration, where the first FFP duration is differentthan the second FFP duration. The second method includes selecting a FFPduration based on entity acquiring the channel occupancy and receivingan UL transmission in a channel occupancy with the selected FFPduration, where the selected FFP duration is one of: the first FFPduration and the second FFP duration.

In some embodiments, the first FFP duration is used when the channeloccupancy is acquired by the UE device and the second FFP duration isused when the channel occupancy is acquired by the RAN device. Incertain embodiments, the second method further includes sending anindication to the UE device indicating whether the channel occupancy isto be a RAN-acquired channel occupancy or the channel occupancy is to bea UE-acquired channel occupancy. In some embodiments, the first FFPduration is a cell-specific parameter and the second FFP duration is aUE-specific parameter, where the cell-specific parameter is a multipleof the UE-specific parameter.

In some embodiments, the second method further includes sending aconfiguration message to the UE device configuring parameters for uplinktransmissions without dynamic grant in first set of resources. In suchembodiments, receiving the UL transmission in the channel occupancyincludes receiving the UL transmission in a resource of the first set ofresources in the channel occupancy. In certain embodiments, theconfiguration message includes an indication of whether the UE device ispermitted to acquire a channel occupancy based on the indication. Insuch embodiments, if the UE device has (pending) UL data, then itacquires the channel occupancy by transmitting the UL transmission inthe resource of the first set of resources in response to theindication.

In certain embodiments, the indication includes a physical layerindication sent in a PDCCH transmission. In one embodiment, the PDCCH isa group common PDCCH sent to a group of UE devices. In certainembodiments, the indication indicates a priority from physical layerperspective for configured uplink transmissions in the first set ofresources. In such embodiments, a high priority indicates that the UEdevice is to initiate the channel occupancy. In certain embodiments, theindication indicates whether the UE device is permitted to initiate achannel occupancy for configured uplink transmissions in a resource ofthe first set of resources.

In certain embodiments, the resource of the first set of resourcesoccurs at the beginning of a fixed frame period. In other embodiments,the resource of the first set of resources is not more than a thresholdtime from the beginning of a fixed frame period. In certain embodiments,the receiving the UL transmission includes receiving an extended cyclicprefix for the UL transmission in the resource of first set ofresources. In such embodiments, the extended cyclic prefix shortens atime gap between the start of the UL transmission in the resource of thefirst set of resources and the beginning of the fixed frame period toless than a threshold time.

In certain embodiments, receiving the UL transmission includes receivinga high priority UL transmission in the resource of the first set ofresources and receiving a lower priority UL transmission between a startof the channel occupancy and the resource of the first set of resources.In such embodiments, a time gap between an end of the lower priority ULtransmission and a start of the high priority UL transmission is smallerthan a threshold time.

In some embodiments, receiving the UL transmission includes receivingdata having a threshold priority or higher using configured resources ofthe channel occupancy. In some embodiments, the RAN device and UE deviceoperate in shared spectrum, and the UE device is configured withsemi-static channel access mode.

Embodiments may be practiced in other specific forms. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

1-15. (canceled)
 16. A User Equipment (“UE”) apparatus comprising: amemory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configuredto cause the apparatus to: receive a first configuration from a radioaccess network (“RAN”) node for a first fixed frame period (“FFP”)duration; and receive a second configuration from the RAN node for asecond FFP duration, wherein the first FFP duration is different thanthe second FFP duration; and select a FFP duration for an uplink (“UL”)transmission to be transmitted based on an entity acquiring a channeloccupancy; and transmit the UL transmission in the channel occupancywith the selected FFP duration, wherein the selected FFP duration is oneof: the first FFP duration or the second FFP duration.
 17. The apparatusof claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to cause the apparatusto use the first FFP duration when the channel occupancy is acquired bythe UE apparatus, wherein the processor is configured to cause theapparatus to use the second FFP duration when the channel occupancy isacquired by the RAN node.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein theprocessor is configured to cause the apparatus to receive an indicationfrom the network indicating whether the channel occupancy is agNB-acquired channel occupancy or the channel occupancy is a UE-acquiredchannel occupancy.
 19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first FFPduration is a cell-specific parameter and the second FFP duration is aUE-specific parameter, wherein the cell-specific parameter is a multipleof the UE-specific parameter.
 20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein theprocessor is configured to cause the apparatus to receive aconfiguration message from the network configuring parameters for uplinktransmissions without dynamic grant in first set of resources, whereinto transmit the UL transmission in the channel occupancy, the processoris configured to cause the apparatus to transmit the UL transmission ina resource of the first set of resources in the channel occupancy. 21.The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the configuration message includes anindication, wherein the processor is configured to cause the apparatusto: determine whether to acquire a channel occupancy based on theindication, and acquire a channel occupancy by transmitting the ULtransmission in the resource of the first set of resources in responseto determining to initiate the channel occupancy.
 22. The apparatus ofclaim 21, wherein the indication comprises a physical layer indicationsent in a Physical Downlink Control Channel (“PDCCH”) transmission. 23.The apparatus of claim 21, wherein channel access parameters of the ULtransmission within the channel occupancy are determined based on theindication.
 24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the indicationindicates whether the UE is permitted to initiate a channel occupancyfor configured uplink transmissions in a resource of the first set ofresources.
 25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the resource of thefirst set of resources occurs at the beginning of a fixed frame period.26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein to transmit the UL transmission,the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to extend a cyclicprefix for the UL transmission in the resource of first set ofresources, wherein extending the cyclic prefix shortens a time gapbetween the start of the UL transmission in the resource of the firstset of resources and the beginning of the fixed frame period to lessthan a threshold time.
 27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein totransmit the UL transmission, the processor is configured to cause theapparatus to: transmit a high priority UL transmission in the resourceof the first set of resources, and transmit a lower priority ULtransmission between a start of the channel occupancy and the resourceof the first set of resources, wherein a time gap between an end of thelower priority UL transmission and a start of the high priority ULtransmission is smaller than a threshold time.
 28. The apparatus ofclaim 16, wherein the UE operates in shared spectrum, and the UE isconfigured with semi-static channel access mode.
 29. A method of a UserEquipment (“UE”) device, the method comprising: receiving a firstconfiguration from a radio access network (“RAN”) node for a first fixedframe period (“FFP”) duration; receiving a second configuration from theRAN node for a second FFP duration, wherein the first FFP duration isdifferent than the second FFP duration; selecting a FFP duration for anUL transmission to be transmitted based on an entity acquiring a channeloccupancy; and transmitting the UL transmission in a channel occupancywith the selected FFP duration, wherein the selected FFP duration is oneof: the first FFP duration or the second FFP duration.
 30. A RadioAccess Network (“RAN”) apparatus comprising: a memory; and a processorcoupled to the memory, the processor configured to cause the apparatusto: transmit a first configuration to a user equipment (“UE”) device fora first fixed frame period (“FFP”) duration; transmit a secondconfiguration to the UE device for a second FFP duration, wherein thefirst FFP duration is different than the second FFP duration; andreceive an uplink (“UL”) transmission in a channel occupancy with thecertain FFP duration, wherein the certain FFP duration is selected basedon an entity that acquires the channel occupancy, wherein the selectedFFP duration is one of: the first FFP duration or the second FFPduration.
 31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the processor isconfigured to cause the apparatus to transmit an indication to the UEindicating whether the channel occupancy is a gNB-acquired channeloccupancy or the channel occupancy is a UE-acquired channel occupancy.32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first FFP duration is acell-specific parameter and the second FFP duration is a UE-specificparameter, wherein the cell-specific parameter is a multiple of theUE-specific parameter.
 33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein theprocessor is configured to cause the apparatus to transmit aconfiguration message to the UE configuring parameters for uplinktransmissions without dynamic grant in first set of resources, whereinto receive the UL transmission in the channel occupancy, the processoris configured to cause the apparatus to receive the UL transmission in aresource of the first set of resources in the channel occupancy.
 34. Theapparatus of claim 33, wherein the configuration message comprises aphysical layer indication sent in a Physical Downlink Control Channel(“PDCCH”) transmission.
 35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein theconfiguration message comprises a physical layer indication thatindicates whether the UE is permitted to initiate a channel occupancyfor configured uplink transmissions in a resource of the first set ofresources.